The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) awards loans, bursaries and scholarships to students from needy families studying in public and private universities. With the rapid expansion of university enrollment, the board will improve its loan recovery, targeting procedures, and means testing. In addition, the HELB Act (Cap. 213) will be reviewed to empower the Board to operate as a fully fledged student bank. The Ministry of Education also provides bursaries to university students. However, the current level of funding is inadequate, given the increasing need for university education. The government will therefore increase funding and explore more efficient allocation criteria.
The sector will augment implementation of the initiatives to expand access to university education such as; de-linking admission from bed space, establishing new university campuses and colleges and upgrading existing middle level colleges. The sector will establish a National Open University and expand or establish Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in existing public and private universities as well as increase access to university education for women, students with special needs and other disadvantaged groups as part of the affirmative action.
Increased access to Higher Education