Comparison of Higher Education System in England and Kenya

This essay provides a comparative study of the higher education system in England and Kenya in terms of funding and quality. It discusses the funding and quality assurance mechanisms in both countries and concludes with which system is preferable.

Running head: ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
English for Academic Purposes
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
Section 1: Portfolio Evidence 1
Skills Do not know
about this
Find this
difficult/
can’t do this
Can partially
do this
Can do this
well
Looking for information
Identify which books/journals/websites to
use ☐ ☐  ☐ ☐
Select relevant parts of a text ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Using sources
Acknowledge sources of information ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Avoid plagiarism ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Planning/ writing
Brainstorm ideas ☐ ☐  ☐ ☐
Plan written work ☐ ☐  ☐ ☐
Link ideas effectively ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Paraphrase & summarise ideas ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Write an introduction ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Write a conclusion ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Personal study
Work independently ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Manage my time ☐ ☐  ☐ ☐
Oral presentation
Discuss written work in a tutorial ☐ ☐  ☐ ☐
IT
Access the internet ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Use search engines ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Create word documents ☐ ☐ ☐  ☐
Section 1: Portfolio Evidence 2
PART 1:
Text 1:
University fees in England
Text 2 (paste your text below):
University fees in………Kenya…………..
“University tuition fees in England will rise to £9,250
per year from 2017 and the increase could apply to
students who have already started courses. The
The rise of the university fess has been very
important for the students and their parents. The
council of the vice chancellors of all the

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inflation-linked rise represents a 2.8% increase and if
that continued would mean fees rising above £10,000
in the next few years. Universities face the dilemma
that under consumer protection requirements they
will need to announce the £9,250 fee before the
beginning of the next application cycle in early
September. However, until formally changed by
Parliament, universities are not allowed to charge a
fee higher than £9,000, which is the current limit.
The government says the increase can apply to students who
have already begun courses - but this will depend on the terms
of student contracts in individual universities. The fees will
increase in subsequent years. Royal Holloway and the
University of Kent have to still to decide on whether to charge
higher fees for current students, but expect to apply them to new
students starting in 2017, if the fee limit increase goes ahead.
The University of Surrey will not increase fees for its current
undergraduates, but fees will increase each year for students
starting in 2017.
Universities minister Jo Johnson has published a statement
setting out plans to link higher fees to better teaching. Liberal
Democrat university spokeswoman Baroness Lorely Burt said:
"Linking fees to teaching quality in this way is unacceptable.
Enabling any university that scrapes a 'meet expectations' rating
to increase fees by 2.8% shows that this isn't about teaching
quality at all. If universities need further support then let's have
a proper discussion about where that money comes from, rather
than pretending that this is somehow a quid pro quo for
providing the quality of teaching students should already be able
to expect". Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust
education charity, said the fee increase will add to student debts
that we have shown to be by far the highest in the English-
speaking world. A real concern is that the removal of
maintenance grants will almost certainly deter poorer students,
who now face debts of over £50,000 on graduation”.
From: Coughlan, S. (2017). University tuition fees rise to
£9,250 for current students –BBC News. [online] BBC News.
Available at:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36856026
[Accessed 19 Jan. 2017].
universities has been craving for the increase in
the fees in the universities. The private universities
are likely to increase the fees by Sh8,000. It has
created havoc in the minds of the students and the
parents as well. They want the annual fees to raise
up to $16000 to $24000. The Government is also
of the opinion that the individual contribution of
the students should go up around $250.000 from
the average of $129.058.
The matter of the fact is the funding model that is
followed in the current times is not much up to
date. The public universities are running in a huge
debt and there is a big need for increasing the fees.
The government has got no options rather than
increasing the values of the amount.
The universities are not at all sure whether the
current funding system could contribute positively
to the development of the facilities provided to the
students regarding education. However, the
guardians had broken out in protest for this. This is
why many educational institutions are vulnerable
in many constraints.
2.Make some notes of the most important points, using your own words, in part 2 below.
PART 2:
Notes (Text 1): Notes (Text 2):

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The purpose of increasing the tuition fees in
England is to enhance the quality of teaching in
those universities. This has been declared by
the University education minister. The raised
fess will be applied to the students who would
join their courses from the year 2017. The
consumer protection requirements work as the
bar to implement this rise in the fees.
The purpose of increasing the tuition fees in
Kenya would be to make the funding system
for the university better. The government is
struggling to provide the basic facilities to the
students. This is why they want to increase the
fees for the students in the most ways possible.
It is to bring the universities out of the
vulnerable conditions that they are facing at the
moment.
PART 3:
What are the similarities and differences between universities in England and………
Kenya………………….in relation to tuition fees? Why are they important?

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The similarities are to provide the better facilities to the students in the universities. The students
are facing many difficulties in both the countries and the universities have to eradicate this
problem. The main difference is the fact that the universities in England are increasing the tuition
fees to increase better study facilities. The universities in Kenya are trying to change the funding
model for the universities.
Section 1: Portfolio Evidence III
Outline (recommended word count: 200)
TITLE THE INCREASE OF THE TUTION FEES IN ENGLAND AND KENYA
INTRODUCTION
Background Information:
The government of the countries like England and Kenya to increase the fees in those
countries. This is why they will need to increase the fees to enhance their skills of providing
the facilities to the students.
Thesis Statement:
To justify this decision of increasing the tuition fees
MB Paragraph 1
Paragraph Focus: ……………………………..
Country A: England Country B: …………Kenya…………..
The chief characteristics of the British
higher education system and finding out the
pros and cons in them.
The main issues faced by the Kenyan
universities regarding funding of the
universities. The reaction of the parents.

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MB Paragraph 2
Paragraph Focus: …………………………………..
Country A: England Country B: ………Kenya……………..
The chief issues that will be faced by the
patents of the students. Their reactions would
be brought out.
The reactions of the parents in this context.
The improvement of the funding systems.
CONCLUSION
Summary of main points
The increase of the tuition fees can only be supported when the governments can
provide the parents with some better options to pay the amount. They can give the
option of payment through instalments and some other options. This will help the
students and strengthen the entire university education process.
Recommendations/suggestions/predictions
Payment through instalments. Government aided schemes for the backward people. Specoal aid
for the poor people.
Section 1: Portfolio Evidence IV
Paragraph structure (recommended word count: 300, including notes)
Write your paragraph here. Then, colour the different parts.
Topic Sentence: The importance of the rise in the tuition fees for the students.
Country A (England): It is a great matter of concern that the university education fees are likely
to rise in the coming times. It has been mentioned that the tuition fees in the universities will rise
to £9,250 per year starting from the year 2017 (Wilkins, Shams and Huisman 2013). It has been
declared the main reason for the rise in the tuition fees is to confront with the recent inflation

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rates in Europe. They are trying to implement this practice from the beginning of the early
September i.e. their new application cycle for admission. They are facing the problems of
implementing it because of the rules of the parliament. The universities minister Jo Johnson has
declared that this can be implemented only after the sanction from the government. He has also
said that this will be implemented for the better teaching facilities to the students. The
maintenance of the costs is very important in this section indeed (Wilkins, Shams and Huisman
2013).
Country B (Kenya): The university education and the raise in the tuition fees have been very
effective in many angles in the society. The parents of the students have become very much
enraged because of this. The council of the vice chancellors have craved for the increase in the
tuition fees for the children (Teferra 2013). They want to make it effective because they think
this would be better to remodel the funding system in the Kenyan universities. As they think that
the current system is not working perfectly they need funds to make new designs to improve the
entire system. The government has proposed to increase the individual contribution of the
students as well (Owuor 2012).
Concluding Sentence: The rise in the tuition fees should be very important for the improvement
of the services of university teaching.
Section 1: Portfolio Evidence V
Type a few comments below in relation to how well you
have addressed the following criteria in your essay.
ESSAY STRUCTURE
A. Has a clear structure including an
introduction, body paragraphs,
conclusion & bibliography.
Yes

7ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
B. Has a clear thesis statement that
states the sub-topics and position.
Yes
C. Has clear topic sentences in each
main body paragraph.
Yes. It is clear
D. Has features of an essay not a
report, i.e. no headings, no bullet
points etc.
Yes
CONTENT
E. Has compared directly between the
two countries in each paragraph.
Yes
F. Has commented on what we learn
from the comparisons.
Yes very appropriately.
G. Has included suitable background
information in the introduction.
Yes it has been provided.
H. Has included a suitable summary
and position in the conclusion.
Yes
I. Has written 750 words (+/- 10%). Yes
USE OF SOURCES AND REFERENCING
J. Has a minimum of 2 sources per
paragraph.
Yes
K. Has in-text citations which follow
Harvard style. E.g. (Coughlan, 2014).
Yes
M. Has avoided plagiarism. Yes
USE OF ENGLISH
N. Writes accurate sentences. Yes indeed
O. Spells and punctuates accurately. Yes
P. Uses a range of language. Most of the times.
Q. Writes in an appropriate academic
style.
Yes.
Things you feel competent at (approx. 50 words):

8ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
I have felt that I am very competent at drawing the comparisons between the education
system of the two countries like England and Kenya. Both the countries have gone on to
raise the tuition fees for different reasons. Both these reasons are important from their
perspectives.
Things you need to work on (approx. 50 words):
I need to work on improving my communication skills and skills of research. This will probably
help me to understand all the things that should be important my skills. I believe that my skills of
research can be improved with consulting with several search engines on the internet.

9ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
Section 2: Written task

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Title: Compare and contrast the higher education system in England with that of
…………………. in terms of funding and quality. Which system is preferable?
Introduction This essay requires providing a better insight into the educations system of England
and Kenya. The two most things in this aspect are funding and quality. These two are very
important in describing the higher education system in these two countries. The higher education
system will have to be described in this section of the essay. The comparison will have to be
done on the system provided by these two countries.
MB 1: The higher education in United Kingdom or England has its special ways of maintaining the
quality or being funded (Wilkins, Shams and Huisman 2013). The Higher Education Funding Council
for England (HEFCE) has the responsibility of providing the funds for the higher education in the
country. The parliament of England has made some legislation by which the higher education process is
being run. The assurance for quality in the higher education institutions is being administered on a UK
wide basis and the funding of these higher education programs have been served on a national basis
(Wilkins, Shams and Huisman 2013) However on this ground the It has been regulated as per the rules
of English parliament that the cost for getting admitted in the undergraduate colleges is about only £9000
per year. However, the England government has decided to increase the tuition fees in the country due to
inflation rates. The students from England are sanctioned for the loans or the grants to pay for the
university. This will be very helpful for them to study (Brown, Bull and Pendlebury 2013). The
students from England get the financial help from the Students Loan Company. However, this rise in the
fees for the students has been very annoying for some students indeed. This company is a government
agency (Brown, Bull and Pendlebury 2013). The student loans are being repaid by the agencies. The
quality issues are also taken care of by the university teachers. They always provide the best things for the
students that could cater to their best performance in the academic fields. Thus the students can really
perform better than the Kenyan students who do not have such loan facilities for their students. The

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Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) provides the tools for measuring the best quality among the students
(Stephenson and Yorke 2013).
MB 2: This section of the essay focuses on the higher education system rooting from the aspects of
funding and quality in Kenya. The universities in Kenya have been suffering from the crisis in quality.
This is why the questions have been raised to increase the tuition fees for the students. However, this has
not been the case at England at all. The scenario of England has been evolving regarding the inflation.
This has been very important to understand and consider (Mohamedbhai, G., 2014). It has been
observed that the universities in Kenya do not have the basic facilities in the Kenyan universities. The
university campuses are of very low quality as well. The universities do not even have the libraries and no
internet access is provided to the students (Teferra 2013). This is why the students are deprived of the
most important facilities. This will hamper the quality of the students as well. The funding system for the
universities is not proper. The quality can be assessed by saying that there is very few academic staff that
does not have anything more than just a masters degree. The credibility of these university employees can
be doubted. The requirements for meeting the tertiary education of the country are sometimes not
properly met at all (Owuor 2012). The state does not support the funds for the universities. It has been
noticed that the funding of the universities for the Kenyan government is going through a very bad patch.
This is completely opposite to that of the funding and quality systems in England. As more universities
have opened in the last few years in Kenya, the government is suffering to keep up with it. This has been
very unfortunate and this becomes a clear difference between the funding and quality systems between
Kenyan and English universities.
Conclusion This paper can be concluded by saying that the funding and quality maintenance system has
been quite opposite in the countries like Kenya and England. The English universities have a well
governed funding system and they ensure the qualities in the best possible ways. In the contrary, the
Kenyan funding and quality system is not at all properly governed. It can be said finally that English

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system is much better than the English system indeed.
Reference List:
Brown, G.A., Bull, J. and Pendlebury, M., 2013. Assessing student learning in higher education.
Routledge.
Gudo, C., 2014. Financing higher education in Kenya: Public-private partnership
approach. International Journal of Educational Policy Research and Review, 1(1), pp.1-5.
Hazelkorn, E., 2015. Rankings and the reshaping of higher education: The battle for world-class
excellence. Springer.
Heller, D.E. and Callender, C. eds., 2013. Student financing of higher education: A comparative
perspective. Routledge.
Jamshidi, L., Arasteh, H., NavehEbrahim, A., Zeinabadi, H. and Rasmussen, P.D., 2012.
Developmental patterns of privatization in higher education: a comparative study. Higher
Education, 64(6), pp.789-803.
Mohamedbhai, G., 2014. Massification in higher education institutions in Africa: Causes,
consequences and responses. International Journal of African Higher Education, 1(1).
Owuor, N.A., 2012. Higher Education in Kenya: The Rising Tension between Quantity and
Quality in the Post-Massification Period. Higher education studies, 2(4), pp.126-136.
Stephenson, J. and Yorke, M. eds., 2013. Capability and quality in higher education. Routledge.
Teferra, D., 2013. Funding Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Springer.
Wangenge-Ouma, G., 2012. Tuition fees and the challenge of making higher education a popular
commodity in South Africa. Higher Education, 64(6), pp.831-844.
Wilkins, S., Shams, F. and Huisman, J., 2013. The decision-making and changing behavioural dynamics
of potential higher education students: the impacts of increasing tuition fees in England. Educational

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Studies, 39(2), pp.125-141.
Ziderman, A. and Albrecht, D., 2013. Financing universities in developing countries. Routledge.