International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedudev

Experimenting in distance education: the African Virtual

University (AVU) and the paradox of the World Bank in
Kenya
a,* b
M.N. Amutabi , M.O. Oketch
a
Department of History, 309 Gregory Hall, 810 S. Wright Street, University Of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801,
USA
b
Department of Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1310 South Sixth Street, Urbana, IL
61801, USA

Abstract

This article seeks to accomplish three objectives. The first is to interrogate the efficacy of the African Virtual Univer-
sity (AVU), which is a satellite and information technology (IT)-based distance education system, sponsored by the
World Bank in Kenya. The second is to demonstrate the failures of the AVU and the reasons why this has been the
case. The third is to give recommendations on how to improve the performance of the AVU in Kenya. It is our
argument that whereas the project may have had good intentions, such as helping Africa to catch up technologically,
it has failed in its infancy.
 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Distance education; Comparative education; Curriculum planning and development; Educational development; Education
technology; Technology education

1. Introduction economic determinism and socio-cultural domi-

The African Virtual University (AVU) is a
World Bank project first introduced in Kenya in
1998. The Bank’s association with AVU has raised
a lot of suspicion since the Bank is the principal
source of neo-liberal policy models imposed on
developing countries often presented as doctrinal
truths. Following the demise of the rival super-
power, globalization doctrines of extreme techno-
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: amutabi@uiuc.edu (M.N. Amutabi).
nation by the United States have filled the intellec-
tual and academic vacuum left by the disappear-
ance of socialism (Were and Amutabi, 2000). Thus
the Bank, supported by the United States, has taken
to pushing its way beyond its brief. What makes
the Bank so powerful is the fact that it has a mon-
opoly on financial matters affecting mainly the
South. It has almost a monopoly on ideas in tech-
nological, cultural, social, economic and political
realms. Through the Bank, neo-liberal policies
have been peddled by endless repetition and dis-
torted interpretations of the “Asian Tigers” which
Africa is expected to emulate (World Bank, 1993).

0738-0593/03/$ - see front matter  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0738-0593(01)00052-9
58 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
They are validated neither by historical experience
nor by accumulated insights of teachings of life
sciences or economics, but by threats of financial
strangulation and economic collapse of small coun-
tries despite the failure of the Structural Adjust-
ment Programs—SAPs (Ali, 1998; Ayittey, 1992;
Bandow and Vasquez, 1994; Chikulo, 1997;
Mkandawire and Soludo, 1999).
Before the Bank’s latest foray into education,
researchers have discovered that the Bank’s econ-
omic policies have failed in Africa, although the
Bank vehemently denies this. Mbaku notes that
“The majority of studies have concluded that
SAPs, as pushed by the IMF, the World Bank, and
the developed countries have either had insignifi-
cant impact on economic growth or have actually
made conditions worse” (Mbaku, 1999:133).
Despite the overwhelming evidence of the failure
of its programs in Africa, the Bank maintains
through several evaluation reports by its staff that
adjustment is working in Africa (World Bank
1989a,b, 1990; World Bank, 1995a,b; Elbadawi et
al., 1992; Elbadawi and Uwujaren, 1992; Hussain,
1994; Hussain and Faruqee, 1994). Going by his-
torical precedents, the AVU project, like other
World Bank projects, is engaged in debt creation
for Kenya by selling obsolete products to Kenya
and discouraging innovation by establishing
dependency by way of technological transfer. Yet
the AVU project, like others before it, is likely to
receive positive appraisals by the World Bank staff
despite its monumental shortcomings. For Africa,
the problems from the World Bank are legion and
are part of the processes of globalization in which
Africa has been massively indebted so as to be per-
petually marginalized. The Bank is an actor in the
globalization agenda of the international financial
institutions, which have systematically and deliber-
ately taken advantage of the debt crisis of the
1980s to institute policy regimes which privilege
interests of private capital over the well-being of
the people (Mkandawire and Soludo, 1999).
Societies in Africa have been savaged by SAPs
nurtured in a culture of social Darwinism of win-
ners and losers. The problem lies in the reduced
space within which countries are now permitted to
manage their affairs on account of commitments,
often extracted under duress by private and official
creditors. Governments in Africa have been
coerced into reducing spending on welfare,
especially on education and health. The epicenter
of these doctrines lies in the skewed development
models validated in major universities, think-tanks,
business organizations and business journals in
the English-speaking world—principally the
United States (Were and Amutabi, 2000; Mbaku,
1999).
The globalization agenda is basically for the rich
nations, from the European Union to the United
States and Canada, which regard the entire world
as a gigantic trading field from which obstacles to
the reach of the European and American business
are to be removed. The World Trade Organization
(WTO) is out to ensure this. The purpose of insti-
tutional reforms like SAPs is to demolish protec-
tive economic and social structures to clear the way
for construction of free-market spaces in the image
of the North to hasten exploitation (Robertson,
1992; Walters, 1995:86–7). The political culture of
Europe and the United States is universalistic and
proselytizing, especially with regard to ideologies
like democracy and technology like the Internet.
The successful unionization of Europe and Amer-
ican triumphalism have put new wind in the sails
of a neo-imperialist project to impose their parti-
cular brands of ideologies like capitalism and their
representational institutions on the rest of the
world. Young professionals privileged by the
advantage of higher education, including African
technocrats trained in graduate schools in Europe
and the USA, are attracted to these Northern devel-
opment fads and paradigms and will jump on these
development bandwagons without considering
local factors and relevance for such policies for
Africa (Were and Amutabi, 2000). Malcolm Wal-
ters (1995) has recognized the importance of the
Internet in globalization and is very categorical
about its United States’ origins and its influence
on trans-global patterns of interaction (Walters,
1995:150). The Internet’s academic and research
potential that attracts millions of users every day
makes it the greatest ensnaring arena for Amer-
icanization and will ensure the greatest dependence
by Africa and other developing continents of the
South (Odedra, 1992b). The AVU is an aftermath
of the globalization agenda of the North whose
 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
main fuel is information technology and dependent
human capital in which its main purpose
is embodied. It is against this background that
the World Bank initiated the AVU, which is
assessed under distance education parameters in
this paper.
2. Distance education
There is no doubt that distance education has the
potential and capacity to contribute to growth and
expansion of high-quality university education in
Kenya (Amutabi, 1997a). In many countries dis-
tance learning has indeed proved to be flexible and
cost-effective. The University of South Africa
(UNISA) has the largest student enrolment in
Africa in its distance education programs. Its
alumni include several distinguished personalities
in Africa, playing very useful roles in the develop-
ment of their countries (Walters, 1997). The British
Open University produces 9 percent of all the
undergraduates in Britain each year at a cost of 5
percent of the national university-operating budget
(Bates, 1995). More importantly, distance edu-
cation should enable working people and those stu-
dents unable to make it to the hard-to-get-into insti-
tutions—the majority—to have an opportunity to
get high-quality education. As a technology-based
distance education alternative, AVU has rightly
focused on science, engineering, business and the
medical fields.
In Kenya, distance education has not been fully
developed and has had several obstacles (Amutabi,
1997b). One of the obstacles is the lack of commit-
ment by the government towards adult education.
This is evident in the treatment of the department
of adult education as part of a leisurely activity
together with sports rather than education. There
is also the general apathy by the populace and
employers who prefer graduates of conventional
systems of education rather than those of than dis-
tance learning. This is, however, changing. The
University of Nairobi is a pioneer in this field in
Kenya. Its Faculty of External Studies situated at
Kikuyu Campus is perhaps the oldest such center
in the region. Since the late 1990s both public and
59
private universities in Kenya have been in different
phases of the implementation of their own versions
of distance education, variously known as “Module
II” at the University of Nairobi, “Parallel/
Evening/Alternative degree programs” at Moi Uni-
versity and “Sandwich programs” at Maseno Uni-
versity, and “evening Program” at the United
States International University–Africa. These pro-
grams have proved very popular and thousands of
learners are currently enrolled, with the University
of Nairobi carrying the bulk of them.
No traditional distance education, especially
“tele-learning” and “tele-teaching”, brings about
independence of time, location and distance. The
fact that one can learn without being absent from
work is definitely an advantage. Getting lessons on
videotapes and receiving and submitting assign-
ments online means less travel expenses. Doing
assignments from any place and without being con-
fined also provides a new freedom that makes the
learner in-charge of his/her learning, “in the uni-
versity without walls”. It would appear that many
workers who would not have pursued higher edu-
cation now have the opportunity to do so, although
the high cost of such technologically-dependent
type of education, as UNISA currently provides,
remains the main obstacle to many Kenyans.
The distance education courses have also tended
to be arts- and humanities-based. This denies the
opportunity to learners that are science-oriented,
such as those interested in agriculture. Distance
education in Kenya is, however, beginning to move
towards science, judging by the parallel programs
in sciences at Moi, Egerton and Maseno univer-
sities. Another important area that has benefited
through distance education has been the improve-
ment of primary (elementary) and secondary (high)
schoolteachers, many of whom have enrolled in
sandwich programs carried out during school hol-
idays at Kenyatta University and the University of
Nairobi. Distance education has geared the teach-
ers to life-long learning and self-improvement.
Even the mere realization that learning is a life-
long process is an important addition in the minds
of Kenyans. The AVU centers at Kenyatta and
Egerton Universities are already pursuing this,
although with minimal accomplishments.
60 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
3. SAPS and public universities in Kenya
The public universities1 in Kenya were in the
past required to train the bureaucrats and high-level
manpower needed to meet the demands of the civil
service after 1963, when Kenya became inde-
pendent. The government support to the univer-
sities was steady until the late 1970s when Kenya
began to undergo a systematic economic decline.
The resources allocated to these institutions dimin-
ished while at the same time they were required to
train an ever-increasing number of students. The
universities have expanded to meet the demands
but the quality of education has gone down due to
the meager resources allocated to them directly by
the exchequer, broken down and poorly maintained
equipment and poorly stocked libraries, student
and staff unrest, unpremeditated closures, the brain
drain, over-enrolment and congestion (Amutabi,
2001). Today, many are only empty shells of their
former past.
The IMF and the World Bank have exacerbated
university problems since the late 1980s with the
introduction of SAPs in Africa (World Bank, 1988;
Mbaku, 1999; Mkandawire and Soludo, 1999).
SAPs reduced funding in the education sector and
affected universities directly. Student activism and
riots as a result of SAPs-related impositions, such
as cost sharing and diminishing student loans, have
compounded the situation. Yet the demand for edu-
cation has skyrocketed as education is still
regarded as an important bridge of social, econ-
omic and political mobility. From total universit-
ies’ student enrolment of 8000 in 1985, Kenya had
by 1986 a total university student enrolment of
45,000 due to double student intakes ordered by
President Daniel Moi in 1986. The number of these
institutions is growing and there is no indication
that the increase is commensurate with quality.
Kenya had only one public university in 1986, and
no private university. Today it has six public uni-
1
Kenya’s public universities are the Universities of Nairobi,
Kenyatta, Moi, Egerton, Jomo Kenyatta and Maseno.
versities and over 10 private universities.2 Many of
the public universities and their campuses have
been promoted from lower institutions previously
offering diploma training without commensurate
improvement or upgrading of infrastructure. If this
blind expansion continues, and there is nothing to
indicate that it will not, the quality of university
education in Kenya is likely to be at the level of
that offered in diploma colleges or may even get
worse.
The incapacity of local universities to meet local
higher education needs has been one of the reasons
often invoked for the introduction of the AVU in
Kenya. The World Bank states that “The higher
education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa suffers sev-
ere crisis which manifests itself through exploding
enrolments, deteriorating quality standards, insuf-
ficient budgets for academic inputs, declining staff
to student ratios, low level research and low
internal and external efficiency” (World Bank,
2001:2). The irony is that, first, the World Bank
is partly to blame for some of these problems for
reducing funding to the education sector (World
Bank, 1988) and by withholding funding to Kenya
since 1990; and second, the Bank has situated the
AVU projects in these very campuses instead of
first remedying the problems. Other problems are
dilapidated infrastructure, political interference in
administration, nepotism and sectionalism, admin-
istrative incompetence and inertia, and corruption,
among others (Amutabi, 2001; Anyang Nyong’o,
1988). The situation is deteriorating (Oketch, 2000;
see also Mbaku, 1999). The overriding conse-
quence of all of the above is that universities are in
crises and in a state of apathy and decay (Amutabi,
2001). The World Bank’s view on education has
essentially been informed by RORE (rate of return
on education) and this has had implications for
resource allocation to and within the education sec-
tor (World Bank 1995b, 1999). Mkandawire and
Soludo have argued that the skewed World Bank
2
Private universities in Kenya include: University of Eastern
Africa, Baraton; United States International University–Africa
(USIU-A), Kasarani; Catholic University of Eastern Africa,
Langata; Nazarene University, Ongata Rongai; Scott Univer-
sity, Machakos; Daystar University, Athi River; St Paul’s,
Limuru; and Kabarak University, Nakuru.
 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
computations based on RORE have led to “tragic
situations in Africa in which educational insti-
tutions have been starved of funding [our empha-
sis] because of their apparent low rates of return
as measured at a particular point in the cycle”
(Mkandawire and Soludo, 1999:68). Bennel also
criticizes the reliance on RORE and points out that
the evidence on RORE used by the Bank to justify
reduction of spending on education in Africa is not
only ambiguous but also problematic (Bennel,
1996). Appleton and Mackinnon (1996) agree with
Bennel. Citing evidence from Kenya, Cote
d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa and
Uganda, they point out the danger inherent in
approaching African countries with similar devel-
opment models as the Bank does (Appleton and
Mackinnon, 1996). After SAPs were introduced in
Kenya, the universities in particular and the edu-
cation sector in general have never been the same.
Indeed, Edward Jaycox, the World Bank President
for Africa in 1997, represented this picture graphi-
cally when he said, “African universities are facing
enormous difficulties, including declining budgets,
lack of qualified instructors and outdated academic
programs that fail to meet local needs” (USA
Today, 1997:5).
Many of these universities lack the basic com-
munication facilities, especially in information
technology. The ratio of learners to computers,
books, laboratory equipment, lecturers and other
aspects is appalling (World Bank, 1988; Mula-
mula, 1995). Thus there is no proper learning and
the knowledge gap between Kenya and the rest of
the world is going to grow even wider. Therefore,
we can almost be certain that the economic and
social disparity between Kenya with other coun-
tries of Africa, south of the Sahara, and the rest of
the world will widen at an even more rapid pace.
The Kenyan government has failed to equip uni-
versities so as to make them become effective
instruments of technological innovations, scientific
research and industrial development (Opiyo, 1995).
The AVU is intended to bring high-quality edu-
cation to a large number of students in Kenya using
modern information technology thereby producing
sufficient numbers of well-trained African scien-
tists, technicians, engineers, business managers,
etc., required for economic development. This, it
61
is argued, the local universities have failed to pro-
vide. Because standards at local universities have
declined since the late 1980s as a result of inad-
equate funds and the World Bank and IMF-engine-
ered structural adjustment programs,3 one may be
tempted to look at the AVU as the World bank’s
solution to the problems it has caused in Kenya’s
education. So far there is no indication that the
AVU will solve the problems in university learning
in Kenya. Evidence indicates that the World Bank
imposed the AVU on Kenya, as it does not appear
in Kenya’s National Development Plan for 1994–
96 (Republic of Kenya, 1996). In the current
National Development Plan, covering 1997–2001,
there is only mention of the AVU project at Keny-
atta University but not at Egerton University where
a second AVU center was established in 2000.
Thus it appears that the government of Kenya has
insufficient information on the AVU, nor is it
aware of the AVU’s long-term goals, objectives
and plans in Kenya. The AVU project is financed
by a loan from the World Bank and one would
have expected a stronger involvement by the
government at the feasibility study level. No
African government was involved in the feasibility
and preparation of the prototype (World Bank
1997, 1999).
Kenyatta and Egerton are the two Kenyan uni-
versities that were chosen as experimental sites for
the AVU project. The AVU is a distance education
project established by the World Bank in 1995 to
serve the countries of Africa, south of the Sahara.
The AVU’s principal objective is to deliver to
these African countries university education in the
disciplines of science and engineering, non-
credit/continuing learning programs and remedial
instruction (World Bank, 2001:2–3). It uses mod-
ern information technologies to increase access to
tertiary education in science and engineering
3
The IMF and World Bank-engineered structural adjustment
programs led to the introduction of austerity measures that led
to the introduction of cost-sharing in healthcare, education and
other sectors. They also led to reduced government spending
on education and hence reduced budget allocation to univer-
sities. This was the beginning of the decline in quality of univer-
sity education in Kenya (for more details see Mbaku, 1999;
Mkandawire and Soludo, 1999).
62 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
throughout this region. Through this project, the
World Bank has established campuses in Ghana,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa,
Namibia, Zimbabwe and, more recently, Senegal.
The AVU project is part of the Bank’s way of
grappling with Africa’s development problems. Its
stated objective is to build world-class scientists,
technicians, engineers, business managers, health-
care providers and other professionals within
Africa as a region that has been lagging behind in
the so-called technological age. Currently, it car-
ries out its programs at 26 sites.4
4. The AVU concept in Kenya
The AVU was first launched in Kenya at Keny-
atta University in April 1998. The AVU is a satel-
lite-based distance education project. It is a net-
work of Internet facilities that uses a multimedia
approach to teaching and learning. The AVU learn-
ing package comprises live pre-recorded lectures
transmitted by satellite and viewed on a television
screen plus handouts, textbooks, lecture guidelines
and programs/schedules on transmission, and other
materials that are transmitted electronically. The
AVU network is modeled on the highly successful
distance-learning networks operational in the
North, especially the United States, Europe, Aus-
tralia and other parts of the developed world. The
materials come from Colorado State University,
the University of Massachusetts and New Jersey
Institute of Technology in the USA and University
College Galway in Ireland (World Bank,
2001:online).
In the initial phase the AVU was expected to
establish partnerships with a number of institutions
of higher learning in the countries of operation and
4
These centers are: University of Accra, University of Cape
Coast, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Egerton
and Kenyatta University, University of Namibia, Technikon
Southern Africa and University of Pretoria—South Africa,
Open University of Tanzania and University of Dar Es
Salaam—Tanzania, Makerere University, Martyrs University
and Uganda Polytechnic—Uganda, National University of
Science and Technology and University of Zimbabwe—Zim-
babwe. The latest addition is Francophone Africa in Senegal.
others in the vicinity. They were supposed to pro-
vide the nucleus of scientific innovation in edu-
cation, as centers of excellence. These centers and
their satellites were expected to offer technology-
based credit courses and non-credit seminars using
digital satellite technology. The AVU was sup-
posed to adapt the academic resources from exist-
ing videotaped curricula of some of the leading
universities in the United States and Europe. Other
courses were developed specifically for the AVU
by institutions of higher education in Ireland and
other European countries. The World Bank states
that the courses include “televised instruction from
the United States and Ireland in science, mathemat-
ics and technology” (World Bank, 2001:4-online).
Programs are broadcast to partner institutions in
Africa via satellite from the US and Europe. The
main contribution of African partners was to
engage in reviewing, customizing, and validating
and at times merely translating the course
materials. The report states that “Courses have
been reviewed and validated [our emphasis] by
faculty at African partner institutions in Zimbabwe,
Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana”
(World Bank, 2001:4-online).
According to the World Bank, the main aim of
the AVU is to tap into new information techno-
logies to overcome the many financial and physical
barriers that often prevent students from African
universities from gaining access to quality higher
education. The argument has been that most
African universities have become increasingly
irrelevant in the rapidly changing world of glo-
balization (Amutabi, 1997b; Walters, 1997). It
should be conceded that African universities often
graduate a disproportionate number of students in
the humanities rather than in the sciences and
engineering, making the AVU project perhaps
plausible. However, many governments in Africa
are incapacitated by lack of funds yet they are sup-
posedly the custodians of education.
5. Understanding the parameters of the AVU
in Kenya
That there is need to bring high-quality edu-
cation to as many people as possible in Kenya is
 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
a welcome gesture, even a godsend. It is not in
dispute that there is a great yearning for high-qual-
ity education in Kenya. The inability of the existing
institutions to satisfy this need is, from the forego-
ing, a foregone conclusion. Most universities in
Kenya are able to admit only a tiny fraction of eli-
gible students. In the year 2000, Kenya’s public
universities admitted only 8000 candidates out of
a total of 48,000 who qualified for university edu-
cation (Daily Nation, 2000). Thus, distance edu-
cation has proved to be a flexible, cost-effective
means of bringing higher education to learners who
for one reason or another are unable to attend a
national public university; this has been shown in
several countries. One of the possible solutions to
the existing problem in Kenya has been to send
students abroad en masse until the concept of dis-
tance education arrived. The next question is how
best to do it; that is, the choice of the appropriate
technology that will convey learning more mean-
ingfully. Bates (1995) suggests a number of criteria
but we will discuss beyond his parameters and thus
assess more and elaborate on each. We consider
seven very important criteria for Kenya: (i) rationa-
lization, (ii) relevance, (iii) access, (iv) cost, (v)
teaching and learning, (vi) sustainability, and (vii)
spillover effects.
5.1. Rationalization
Rationalization addresses aspects of justifi-
cation. It is supposed to find out whether the AVU
concept, for instance, is better than the alternative
distance, open and cooperative concepts of edu-
cation existing in Kenya. It also should reconcile
the programs with the needs, costs and con-
venience. Is the rush for the Internet and Infor-
mation Technology in teaching the solution to
Kenya’s education problems? Is this not part of the
scheme by the North to quickly engage and
enhance the captive nature of Africa? There are
more urgent issues that need to be tackled to
enhance development other than just university
education. Kenya has attained only 65 percent liter-
acy, and this is by very conservative estimates. The
situation could be worse than this. It means that
many citizens are still illiterate. Also the country
is faced with a very high level of drop-out at pri-
63
mary and secondary school level. Attrition is also
very high at the universities especially after the
introduction of SAPs in the education sector in
Kenya. It means that such a basic issue as retention
is still a problem in Kenya.
The AVU programs are only of benefit to the
elite who can afford the costs, which were intro-
duced since 1999. In October 2000, Kenyatta Uni-
versity students went on a sustained three-day
strike demanding withdrawal of the Kshs.500
(approximately US$7) e-mail fee per term imposed
by the university administration. The university
eventually closed down. Whereas to the university
authorities, e-mail appeared to be a priority, it cer-
tainly was not to the students. Even if students saw
it as a need it was prohibitive because of the cost.
The AVU programs are facing the same problems.
The fact that the AVU programs require affiliation
to a campus makes them similar to the current uni-
versity set-up in Kenya. University education is
lagging behind not because of inadequate tech-
nology but because of cost and lack of resources.
5.2. Relevance
Here, the concern should be on the capacity and
potential of the anticipated program to address and
meet local needs and demands. For instance, in the
case of the AVU, one should find out if the work-
ing environment of the graduate will be in an Inter-
net area as required by the AVU or in deep rural
areas where there is no access to the Internet. Will
such a graduate, who is computer and Internet
dependent, be usefully employed in a working
environment devoid of these appliances and con-
nection? Will his/her knowledge be such that it can
be improvised to suit local situations or will it be
dependent on Northern materials and ideas for the
entire life of such a graduate? Is the AVU curricu-
lum responsive to Kenya’s educational needs? Is it
providing for Kenya’s labor needs? Will it address
or even alleviate the plethora of problems of lack
of high-quality manpower experienced in Kenya?
Unfortunately, the AVU does not promise to
address part or the whole of these problems. As an
Internet-dependent education system, its relevance
to rural Kenya is out of the question.
Kenya is 80 percent rural and much of it is not
64 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
connected to the Internet. Thus the AVU will only
address the needs of a tiny fraction of people in
urban areas. University graduates are supposed to
work in rural areas where they would stimulate
development. Since the AVU is Internet and com-
puter dependent, many of the graduates are likely
to be irrelevant in rural settings where they would
not have ready access to the Internet to consult.
Thus, before Kenya establishes a relevant infra-
structure for massive Internet learning and utiliz-
ation, and before a significant proportion of the
population is literate, the AVU concept will remain
irrelevant. Those funds would be better diverted to
improve areas of literacy and information tech-
nology infrastructure in existing institutions.
Dependency on the Internet rather than on hands-
on-learning is already causing problems in the
North. A story is told of a student in the US who
was asked the name of the President of Rwanda.
She asked for a few moments and quickly clicked
on a renowned search engine. When the search
engine turned up nothing, the student answered,
“Rwanda has no president.” Paul Kagame had been
President for six months, having replaced Bizimun-
gu.
5.3. Access
This is concerned with the number of people
who will have access to learning and flexibility or
rigidity of conditions of admission; it has to do
with the space available and capacity it can accom-
modate without compromising standards; it also
concerns accessibility to particular technology and
learning aids to the learner. It has to do with logis-
tics, that is location of the learning center and its
suitability to the learners in general. According to
many experts of distance education, accessibility is
usually the most important criterion for deciding
on the appropriateness of a technology for distance
learning (Walters, 1997; Korsgaard, 2000). At
present the telecommunication infrastructure in
Kenya is limited with regard to the information
age. The network is so limited that it will inevi-
tably restrict access to a large number of learners.
The AVU has the necessary equipment, but the
problem of access to the majority still has to be
dealt with. This is because very few Kenyans can
afford the cost of a telephone let alone software.
Another problem related to access has to do with
location of the AVU centers in Kenya.
Kenyatta University is located in Nairobi which
renders the AVU services accessible mainly to an
urban clientele but inaccessible to the majority
rural population. Even the Egerton center is far
removed from the deep rural areas. The program
should have been set up in such a way as to use
local rural centers such as markets and small towns
if it were to have a greater impact. Since the cen-
ters have been taken to universities, they still per-
petuate the ivory tower mentality associated with
these institutions with their attendant bureaucracy,
iron gates, watchmen, and rigid selection criteria,
among others. This hinders access to many.
The fact that these centers are located in univer-
sity towns makes accommodation expensive and
beyond the reach of ordinary Kenyans. Those who
cannot afford it are automatically excluded. Per-
haps it may be feasible to set up the proposed satel-
lite system at a centre like Addis Ababa, where
there is some expertise in maintenance, to train a
number of individuals who then can use other
appropriate technology to reach a large number of
students along the lines suggested above. This
approach has other benefits, namely to make the
most out of the dollar available; the money saved
from setting satellite receiver units and equipment
at other centers can be used for other needs and
machinery that are deemed appropriate for distance
learning. Moreover, the individuals so trained
would save the cost of having too many consultants
and experts that usually accompany such projects,
since the few that are trained will already be on
the payroll of their institutions.
5.4. Costs
This is concerned with the official fees which
the individual learner is charged and other inci-
dental or hidden costs like purchase of stationery,
uniform, overalls, individual software like dis-
kettes and learning manuals, charges for private
use of other services like e-mails, the cost of trans-
port to the learning place from the homes of lear-
ners per day, per month, or per semester. It is also
concerned with the cost of installation of a certain
 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
technology vis-à-vis estimated long-term benefits
to the institution and the country; the comparative
advantage of the installation with regard to other
technologies available on the market and their level
of obsoleteness in the near future; and the structure
of each technology and its relevance to local con-
ditions. The cost of the technology should not be
such that the poor, who are the majority, are
excluded. In other words, the costs should not be
prohibitive to the institution and the learner. The
AVU centers at Kenyatta and Egerton have state-
of-art technologies and current computers and
Internet servers, TVs, VCRs, and other sophisti-
cated multimedia appliances. The Kenyatta and
Egerton University AVU projects cost US$40
million (in Kenya shillings, approximately Kshs.3
billion) and US$20 million (approximately
Kshs.1.5 billion) to install, respectively (World
Bank, 2001). This is besides the daily costs of run-
ning them. According to the Government of Kenya
2001/2002 fiscal budget announced in June 2001,
which allocated public universities Kshs.2 billion,
the funds used on the AVU can run the public uni-
versities for two years. Using the 1999/2000 esti-
mates that allocated universities Kshs.500,000,000,
the money can run public universities for five
years.
The AVU capacity at Kenyatta University is 80
students at any given time and this is set to double
by the end of 2001. The University of Egerton,
which is relatively new, can only accommodate 40
students. The student numbers are limited to the
number of computers and the few instruction
rooms available. In their regular programs, Keny-
atta and Egerton Universities’ student enrolments
stand at approximately 15,000 and 10,000, respect-
ively. Their evening/part-time classes that use con-
ventional ways of teaching have enrolments of
1000 and 500 students for Kenyatta and Egerton,
respectively. This means that the conventional
methods of teaching have more advantages than
the AVU in terms of cost and number of learning
opportunities. Setting up an arts-based extra class
of about 50 students for the evening/part-time pro-
gram often requires little more than a good
classroom/lecture theater and using existing staff
and resources. AVU requires more extensive
investment in infrastructure, equipment, staff and
65
technician training. With the latest computer mod-
els costing about Kshs.140,000 (about US$2000)
in Kenya, the AVU is a pipe dream for many pub-
lic universities.
On fees charged by the AVU see Table 1. Keny-
atta University charges between US$3200 and
3500 (approximately between Kshs.240,000 and
262,500) per semester, meaning that annually the
cost of an AVU course is about US$6400
(Kshs.480,000). This is the cost of an entire degree
course in a regular program at any university in
Kenya (University of Nairobi, 2001). Even for one
semester, the fee at the AVU is almost double the
fee charged for regular/ordinary programs at the
same university, which costs Kshs.140,000 per
year (University of Nairobi, 2001). At the Univer-
sity of Nairobi a similar ordinary undergraduate
program costs US$2000 (approximately
Kshs.140,000). Thus AVU programs cost more
than the most expensive locally operated course
such as architecture, medicine, engineering, etc.
The cost is very prohibitive to ordinary parents
who even have problems paying the lower local
fees.
So what makes the World Bank imagine that the
lack of funds afflicting the students in local univer-
sities will not affect the AVU? The Bank states
that “the African Virtual University . . . will self-
finance during the operational phase through stud-
ent tuition” (World Bank, 2001:2). In the Bank’s
final feasibility study on the AVU it stated that
“AVU seeks to sustain its operations by income
from tuition and service fees within three years”
(World Bank, 1997). With the current poverty lev-
els in Kenya, these are very unrealistic expec-
tations. It is foolhardy to imagine that the same
students who cannot afford subsidized fees at pub-
lic universities will now afford hyper-fees simply
because the learning is cyber-based. One also
notices double standards in the Bank’s dealing with
Africa. The Bank has persistently opposed
increased spending in the social realms by govern-
ments. Now the same Bank approves spending on
the AVU simply because it is from its desk.
The money invested in AVU appliances and
high fees could have been used to improve the cur-
rent problems in local universities. The World
Bank and other donors are currently covering the
66 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
Table 1
Fees charged by the African Virtual University (AVU)
University
AVU Kenyatta
AVU Egerton
University of Nairobi
Kenyatta University Regular
Jomo Kenyatta
Sources: Egerton, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenyatta University and the University of Nairobi
web pages.
initial costs for the technologies chosen in AVU
projects. These funds are in the form of loans or
grants, meaning that at one time the Kenyan tax-
payer will be called upon to repay money even
though he has no say in directing how it is spent,
and part of which was spent in the North in so-
called feasibility studies. It is envisaged that AVU
centers will eventually be self-sustaining insti-
tutions and that they will survive by charging fees
from their students. This indeed should be the
objective but the question is, should the money
obtained as a loan or a grant be spent on expensive
hardware that will not be maintained adequately
when the donor pulls out? From experiences in
other sectors, one may wonder whether these cen-
ters will be properly maintained and sustained in
the long term.
The programs are designed in the North where
“participating universities in USA and Ireland will
provide (pre)packaged academic programs, parti-
cularly in science, engineering and business”
(Okuni, 2000:6). Okuni says “African universities
are expected to begin originating their programs in
the final phase” (Okuni, 2000). Hence the AVU
programs are enhancing dependency which many
African governments should be striving to steer
away from. It is therefore very important that care-
ful consideration be given to the appropriate choice
of technology as some technologies are very
expensive yet achieve little. Needless to say, this
does not imply that Kenya should be choosing out-
dated technology for distance learning but at the
same time it should not grab the latest technology
which may not be appropriate for their needs. A
careful analysis of the available technologies
should have been made, taking into consideration
Cost
US$3200–3500 (Kshs.240,000–262,500) per term
US$3200–3500 (Kshs.240,000–262,500) per term
US$2000 (Kshs.140,000) per year
US$2000 (Kshs.140,000) per year
US$2000 (Kshs.140,000) per year
the country’s existing telecommunication infra-
structure, what each technology can achieve given
the fields of study chosen, its adaptability to chang-
ing needs and circumstances and, of necessity, its
cost and sustainability in Kenya.
5.5. Teaching and learning
Teaching and learning should always go
together. What is therefore critical is that the teach-
ing should be in such a way that the learners can
imbibe readily without obstacles such as accents,
newness to technology, unfamiliarity of vocabu-
lary, etc. These concern the kind of learning that is
needed by society, and the instructional approaches
that best meet these needs. Teaching should always
take into consideration the background of the
learner if it is to succeed. Learning can only be
smooth if the learner and the teacher are properly
reconciled with regard to their aims and objectives.
The AVU uses a multimedia approach to teaching
and learning. The learning package comprises live
or pre-recorded lectures transmitted by satellite and
viewed on television screens, plus handouts, text-
books and other materials which are transmitted
electronically. The courses and curricula designed
in European and US universities are the ones that
the AVU administers through tele-teaching, with
typical American or British accents which even the
seasoned Africans living in the North at times take
a while to fathom. The differences and problems
of British and American English are legion. Many
countries usually adopt one but not both as they
are often incompatible on spelling, pronunciation
and intonation.
The Kenyan learner at the AVU centers is con-
 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
fronted by these problems which the learner in the
North is spared. Certain textbooks and teaching
materials produced in the North do not have direct
application and relevance to Kenya, as the issues
mentioned may be irrelevant and perpetually
foreign. The courses have obviously been
developed with a certain background in culture,
technology and relevance in mind, which by and
large are those of the North. Even examples and
illustrations are naturally Northern inclined even if
the Bank insists that the “Courses have been
reviewed and validated by faculty at African part-
ner institutions” (World Bank, 2001:4). There
ought to be more discussion on this so that the
AVU should be flexible enough to accommodate
the differences that exist in cultures, infrastructure,
developmental priorities and political realities so
that each country can reap the maximum benefit
the project has to offer by developing their own
curriculum and not merely adding or validating.
From what is available at the moment, Kenyan stu-
dents may feel alienated and even confused by
these materials if these differences are not recog-
nized. There is a need to develop and design
materials according to local needs and hence a
need for country-specific materials in course
description and designs rather than a general holis-
tic treatment of courses.
One major problem existing in institutions of
higher education in Kenya is their inability to adapt
easily to changing needs and circumstances. But
this is not out of choice. It is dictated to them by
the availability of finances more than a conscious
decision to remain behind. Whereas there is need
to change, the approach to teaching and what needs
to be taught has to be dictated by local demands
and needs. Not all that is relevant in the North is
relevant for Africa. Most of the curricula pursued
at AVU centers have been largely adopted from
US and European institutions with very minimal
local input (World Bank 1999, 2001). This might
have been all right when higher education was first
introduced in Africa but is are not necessarily rel-
evant at this time in Kenya’s development. The
AVU’s distance education project seems to fall
into the same trap of perpetuating dependencies in
learning and teaching, and will therefore stifle any
local innovation, invention and discovery since
67
Kenya is made to become a net recipient and con-
sumer of programs developed in the North.
5.6. Sustainability
This has to do with the period when the funding
from the World Bank comes to an end. It is con-
cerned with whether the local universities will
maintain the projects with their shoestring budgets.
It is interested in finding the best and most con-
venient technologies for supporting the teaching
and earning. Can Kenya, in whatever form,
governmentally or through private entrepreneurs,
be able to continue the project once donor funds
are exhausted? This is where the cost criterion
becomes important. The cost of the technology
chosen should be such that Kenya will be able to
afford and maintain it when the World Bank with-
draws but this is not the case. This is of immense
importance since there are many examples of
donor-initiated well-meant projects that have
folded after donor funding was discontinued,
mainly because not enough thought was put into
their sustainability when the projects were
launched. From what has happened at Kenyatta
University, where students have resisted the AVU
facilities like the e-mail service, it seems that the
sustainability of the AVU experiment in Kenya
may be doomed to failure.
5.7. Spillover effects
To what extent will this type of education affect
the educational environment, the country as a
whole? Is it capable of influencing development?
Can others also learn from the graduates of such
a system independent of where they themselves
trained? If not, then the system is only establishing
dependency structures which will affect generation
after generation. In 2000, the AVU at Kenyatta
University trained 200 teachers in computer liter-
acy, introductory and advanced Internet use. They
were also taken through a program on multimedia
teaching (Aduda, 2000). Considering that Kenya
has close to 300,000 teachers, 200 are a mere drop
in the ocean. Furthermore, some of the teachers
were from rural schools where access to electric
power and telephone is non-existent to the majority
68 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
of schools and computers are beyond reach. There-
fore, in as much as the AVU objectives may be
noble, their effect is of very limited impact in
Kenya, and in any African country for that matter.
Thus from the onset, the AVU is destined to serve
a very limited clientele. If this clientele are trained
with the intention that they will train others
through similar or other appropriate training, the
effects of the inevitable brain drain will be moder-
ate.
If, for example, a program of study is initiated
for fairly knowledgeable young instructors at the
university, they can train others. For instance, high
school and primary school teachers can be trained
during the summer by some of these staff mem-
bers, as Kenyatta University has done, but on a
much large scaler if it hopes to tip the scales. Given
the appropriate technological support, these
schoolteachers will be able to teach a large number
of students barring the lack of access to computers
in many schools. The obvious lack of preparedness
and/or interest shown by students in the science
and technological fields will be bettered by this
approach rather than attempting to give remedial
courses. However, the issue goes back to financial
investment because these schools will require an
electricity supply, computers, and upgrading of
software. This is the burden that the World Bank
and the IMF have been removing from the Govern-
ment in Kenya.
Such short-term training has extended to the
private sector in Kenya who appear to be more
interested in the AVU programs and who can
afford the fees anyway. Previous experience has
shown that many of these organizations will be
willing to pay for such training if it is demonstrated
to them that such training is beneficial. The few
that are so trained, when they go back to their
respective institutions, can conduct their own in-
house training and will demonstrate how useful
such training is by improved output/efficiency/cost
saving, etc. This will lead to better remuneration
for the individuals involved and will encourage
others to improve themselves through distance
education. Such results might perhaps reduce the
fear and skepticism of many administrators and
policy makers for free flow of information and
knowledge. Convincing such people that free flow
and acquisition of knowledge and information will
substantially help in the economic development
and stability of a country and that it will not neces-
sarily be a threat to their power and existence is a
major problem in introducing telematics for dis-
tance education in Kenya, as in most countries of
Africa south of the Sahara.
Africa is the least connected continent to the
Internet in the world due to lack of technical and
well-trained human resources (Odedra, 1990; Ode-
dra, 1992b). Africa is also least connected for lack
of political concern and the will to establish con-
nectivity (Knight, 1995). Knight points out that in
many countries in Africa inefficient monopolistic
state telecommunication companies are preventing
the free flow of information. In Kenya this is worse
because the Telecommunications Corporation of
Kenya (Telekom) remains the only concern dealing
in telecommunications networks. Attempts by the
IMF and the World Bank to arm-twist President
Daniel Moi’s government into liberalizing the sec-
tor have been unsuccessful. Then there is the Com-
munications Commission of Kenya (CCK) which
is in charge of licensing of Internet servers, FM
radio and TV stations, cellular phone operators,
and so forth. Communication equipment of news
networks and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) has been confiscated, cannibalized or
destroyed mainly for suspicion of dealing in sub-
version. Others have been denied licenses to oper-
ate because they are suspected to be in support of
the opposition political parties. Successful and
meaningful Internet and multimedia learning can-
not go on in such an atmosphere of intolerance and
information censorship (Lutta-Mukhebi and Amut-
abi, 2000).
6. Advantages of AVU to Kenya
The AVU library concept is particularly fasci-
nating. The university instructors and their students
would have access to online journals and archived
materials, participate in online discussion groups
(e-groups), subscribe to list servers, etc. The staff
could keep up with developments through short
courses and have access to the libraries in the
developed countries through the AVU’s electronic
 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
library. Interaction with faculties in the developed
countries might even lead to joint research projects
on crucial problems of development in Africa
south of the Sahara. This would be beneficial to
the country, the institution and the individual. But
such benefits are going to come in the long term
and hence there is the need to make sure the AVU
project is sustainable.
The greatest advantage of the AVU is perhaps
its projected aim of preserving Africa’s rare collec-
tions through scanning and digitization. This will
make these rare documents and material available
more easily to online researchers, students, the aca-
demic community and the public. The other aim
of promoting online publishing of work by African
scholars is also likely to make an interesting contri-
bution.
7. The disadvantages of AVU in Kenya
The AVU has certain disadvantages inherent in
it. The AVU has been seen by some scholars as
merely enhancing the global hegemony of the
North in the globalization matrix (Amutabi,
1997b). The fact that the hardware, software and
learning packages come from universities in the
North enhances the validity of these suspicions and
fears. The AVU’s misfortunes are worsened by the
fact that the same World Bank that has called for
reduced spending by governments in education in
Africa is the very one now advocating this luxur-
ious and more expensive educational approach.
This is double speaking, a paradox.
Like any other distance education program, the
AVU intends to save the African governments’
scarce foreign exchange by keeping the students in
the home countries still pursuing foreign education.
The AVU, therefore, seems to want to alleviate the
problem of demand for places at universities in
Africa. Whereas the aim, as it may appear, is to
save money, the complete opposite is in fact the
case. The AVU programs are generated in the
North, hence capital transfer still takes place
through purchase and importation of equipment,
much of it already obsolete by the standards of the
North. It uses a lot of money in the design of its
programs and expertise in consultations. Many stu-
69
dents have already shown their inability to pay
beyond the pilot phase in the AVU programs.
Micro and macro economic conditions have
increased rural and urban poverty in Kenya. This
has reduced the purchasing power of many Keny-
ans and hence their capacity to support higher edu-
cation privately has been diminished. Even those
who go to private universities in Kenya and those
who pursue parallel or evening degree studies at
the public universities are sons and daughters of
“the haves”. Thus the AVU education is limited to
the rich, which runs counter to the AVU idea of
expanding education opportunities for all. A sig-
nificant proportion of the population will thus be
unable to pay at AVU centers.
The telecommunication system on which e-mail
relies plays a very important role in the AVU pro-
gram. Whereas e-mail may be quick and efficient,
and even cheap, there must be an infrastructure to
make it operational. There are today many private
entrepreneurs providing Internet services in Kenya,
especially in Nairobi, but these developments must
be seen as the backdrop to a very high user-cost
and poor state of basic communications. Unstable,
unreliable and insufficient power supply in Kenya,
which has just undergone a 16-month power-
rationing program, is a case in point. Also unre-
liable and congested telephone links, unaffordable
cost of telecommunications (telephone, fax, e-mail,
etc.) services are known obstacles. Furthermore,
the World Wide Web is not really independent of
the user’s locality, it currently constitutes a mere
possibility in Kenya. The AVU concept may sound
very flowery and appealing but the empirical and
experiential conditions in Kenya dictate otherwise.
In as much as its goals are good and aimed at leap-
frogging African University education, it is too
optimistic and takes very many factors in Kenya
and Africa for granted. For example, at a very
basic level, a telephone line and a personal com-
puter for each lecturer is taken for granted in the
North but is still a luxury in many Kenyan univer-
sities. It is expecting too much to expect the same
lecturer who has no access to a telephone line and
a computer to begin using the Internet to send
assignments and results to students by e-mail. Even
the laptop computer that is used to reinforce the
view that this mode of educational communication
70 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
will be easy to access costs a lot of money by Ken-
yan standards. The cheapest laptop models from
Casio, Dell and Gateway and the phased-out Mac-
intosh models cost about Kshs.35,000 (about
US$500) and are far beyond the reach of an aver-
age Kenyan student who will require this kind of
money to sustain him/herself comfortably for an
entire academic year at a local university. Because
the World Wide Web is not really independent of
the user’s location, it constitutes a mere poten-
tiality in Kenya. Mere ownership of a battery- or
dry-cell-operated laptop does not amount to Inter-
net connectivity without a telephone connection
and local area server or network.
The online digital library is a brilliant idea and
would boost the current intellectual stagnation due
to lack of current literature in the university
libraries in Kenya. It would create the globalization
connection in knowledge so much in vogue today.
It is true that many libraries are slowly turning into
archives. However, the use of the digital library
really depends on the easy access, extension, avail-
ability and ability to maintain and use a network of
computing services. There is still widespread and
inadequate computer literacy and facilities in
Kenya. Some lecturers in Kenyan universities and
their students are still computer shy and also
unfamiliar with using the new infotech and Internet
because this is a process that must be learned
gradually (Amutabi, 1997a). Africa’s share of the
worldwide telephone network is just 2 percent, and
only 1 percent of the computers in use in the world
(Amutabi, 1997b; Mulamula, 1995; Odedra,
1992a). The AVU would have been a great idea
if computers were as easily available in Africa as
transistor radios. Even at AVU centers the com-
puter hardware and software is far below the speed
and sophistication seen in the universities in the
North. Many of these facilities are years behind
what is considered in the North as state-of-the-
art appliances.
Computer hardware and software and other
equipment at the two AVU centers in Kenya are
obsolete, going by the standards of the level of
technology currently available in the North. They
are far from what is considered as state-of-the-art
technology even in the poorest institutions in the
North. By the time the hardware, software and
other equipment are shipped to Kenya they are
already being phased out in the North. The IBM
546 has, for instance, been replaced by the Pen-
tium, the e-mail programs in the North have
already experienced revolutionary innovations in
speed and capacity of attachments, while the AVU
centers in Kenya are marooned in the technologies
of the 1990s. Thus, like the objectives of globaliz-
ation of the North, for which the World Bank is
part responsible, the AVU provides a dumping
ground for obsolete technology that is presented as
a loan to the gullible Kenyan taxpayers.
The AVU threatens to create islands of excel-
lence, “Ivory Towers” away from the rest of other
learning centers in Kenya. Policy makers in Kenya
as elsewhere in the world are grappling with ways
of removing the “Ivory Tower” mentality that sur-
rounds many universities and isolates them from
the rest of society. Policy makers would like more
interaction and linkage between university research
and the real needs of the country at a very local
level. Through the AVU’s globalization endeavors
and the attendant high rates of technological trans-
formation, the convergence of telecommunications,
computers, satellites, televisions, fiber optic tech-
nologies, and internet-dependent learning all help
in the isolation of the university from the rest of
the Kenyans.
8. Concluding remarks
The African Virtual University is a timely pro-
ject which will, however, require careful adjust-
ments to the realities and needs of Kenya without
causing friction. The AVU is already causing prob-
lems to its host institutions because of its incom-
patibility. Kenyatta University was closed in
October 2000 because students rioted over e-mail
charges imposed by the institution (a mere
Kshs.500 or less than $10 per term) to use the
AVU facilities. Following the strike, 36 students
were suspended and four expelled from the univer-
sity. This is already casting doubts on the AVU’s
acceptability according to opposition by learners
at Kenyatta University. Participants in any project
provide the best gauge of its success and failure.
The events unfolding at Kenyatta University indi-
 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
cate a strand of failure. The AVU would be better
placed to start free limited access to its services to
slowly ensnare the student population. At a later
stage, when students realize the benefits, a fee can
justifiably be charged for services such as Internet
connection. This way, there will be no animosity
as is the case at Kenyatta University. Moi Univer-
sity in Kenya started such a free scheme for staff
and students with aid from the Dutch government.
After users got “hooked” on the Internet café ser-
vices, a small fee was introduced and has gradually
been increased to levels that make the operation
viable.
Kenya has an official literacy level of 65 per-
cent. In some rural districts in eastern and north-
eastern provinces, literacy levels are as low as 30
percent (Amutabi, 1997b:197). For the AVU to
pick up momentum and be received enthusiasti-
cally, literacy levels should have been addressed
first through the government. The poor state of
learning environments in local universities also
needed to be addressed first even if the rate of
return to the World Bank would have been minimal
here. Popularization of the use of the computer and
its enhanced availability should have preceded the
project. The project is supposed to be a quick sol-
ution to Africa’s problems in higher education,
where “tertiary institutions were overwhelmed with
problems related to access, finance, quality,
efficiency—-” and therefore not able to meet these
challenges. Mismanagement, which is the root
cause of the problems, is therefore ignored. All the
AVU projects are situated on university campuses
that have been associated with the problems listed
above. One therefore wonders about the rationale
of the World Bank. The problems are deep-rooted
and require whole-encompassing solutions.
There is mounting concern that sees the AVU
as part of globalization or “Washingtonization” or
“Microsoftization” of the world. In Kenya, just like
elsewhere in Africa where there is only one com-
puter per 10,000 people or even less in rural areas,
one does not really expect Internet teaching to suc-
ceed. In a country where the majority of the stu-
dents come from poor families, and there is almost
no prior computing knowledge, one expects too
much to be able to begin instruction in computers.
The fact that some students meet computers for the
71
first time only at the AVU campuses makes it even
trickier. Scholars are also increasingly questioning
the type of learning that goes on for a limited per-
iod of time at AVU centers, to be able to produce
the “experts” the World Bank requires. The depen-
dence on the computer will make the graduates
helpless if they are to work in rural outposts where
there is no access to a computer. Therefore, there
is a need to make the AVU part and parcel of ordi-
nary learning rather than isolating its students from
the rest. Tele-teaching should be gradually intro-
duced in all the subject areas gradually for the
fever to catch up, and only then can the AVU blos-
som.
Distance education has been in existence in
Kenya before independence in 1963. Thus the
AVU idea is not really novel and its haphazard
implementation is indicative of the arrogance of
many projects of the World Bank in Africa like the
SAPs. They are often imposed on people without
due regard to their feelings and ignore their inputs.
The fact that the AVU did not appear in the last
Kenya National Development Plans before its sud-
den appearance on the scene is indicative of such
imposition. Not even the government was prepared
for the project and so could not spread awareness.
Project implementations and appraisals do not, of
course, at times require referendums as in political
decisions but courtesy demands a semblance of
measurement of feeling of would-be beneficiaries.
There is obvious duplication of purpose between
the AVU projects and the current twinning of Ken-
yan universities with European or US universities.
Many of the efforts of the universities in the North
in Kenya and elsewhere are duplicated by the AVU
centers, hence there is misuse of resources that
could be better put to other uses. The AVU has
moved in from a position of superiority compared
to the partner universities from the North which
come into Kenya as collaborators and partners, and
this brings about a large difference. There is, there-
fore, a need for the World Bank to realize and
appreciate the fact that partnerships last longer than
policy impositions, as SAPs have shown and the
AVU is now showing.
As long as costs to gain access to education and
the Internet are higher in Africa than in the North,
money will continue to mark the dividing line
72 M.N. Amutabi, M.O. Oketch / International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73
between knowledge and ignorance. There is the
appeal of neo-liberal policies to Galbraith’s “con-
tented classes” who find economic philosophies
that favor them. The World Bank may even
increase its centers in Kenya but, as long the cost
remains high, its aim of making high-quality edu-
cational opportunities available to many Kenyans
will remain a mirage. In Kenya, income disparities
are wide and are bound to widen even more with
this kind of privileged access. The World Bank
also needs to reconcile and resolve the paradox of
the AVU in Africa with its SAPs in the region. It
is the SAPs that have led to the decay of education
in African universities and the AVU cannot undo
the damage. Economic policies based on methodo-
logical individualism produce neither stability nor
sustainable growth. The efforts need to be more
concentric, purposeful and more focused than what
the AVU is doing. One cannot attain the targets
that the AVU envisages with the current levels of
impoverishment in Africa, where people are barely
surviving. It was supposed to enhance access but
because of cost, this may not be realized. Instead,
only the upper classes can afford it. The AVU is
therefore creating and enhancing societal stratifi-
cation, because only the children of the rich can
afford its costs and are computer literate. It is the
rich who venture into the AVU campuses, as the
others are still computer shy. The AVU is obvi-
ously out of step with not only Kenya but with
almost the whole of Africa south of the Sahara.
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