NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 22- The State Department for Higher Education and Research is potentially facing a funding crisis in the upcoming 2025/2026 fiscal year due to significant reductions in the proposed allocations for its recurrent and development expenditures.
The proposed allocation for the state department recurrent budget for the 2025/26 FY stands at Sh142.3 billion against Sh264.4 billion, leaving a substantial shortfall of Sh122.1 billion.
This funding deficit translates to a 46.1 percent funding gap, which could impact critical operations and programmes within the higher education sector.
“The resource requirement presented to the Sector Working Groups (SWGs) for Recurrent Expenditure for FY 2025/2026 was Ksh. 264,440.43 million. The proposed allocation to the State Department for Higher Education & Research is Ksh. 142,311.0 million resulting in a shortfall of Ksh. 122,129.63 million,” the State Department noted.
Additionally, the state department development budget faces a Sh9.6 billion deficit following the Sh3.7 billion proposed allocations in the 2025/26 fiscal year.
“On Development Expenditure, the requirement was Ksh. 13,750 million against a proposed allocation of Ksh. 3,668 million resulting into a shortfall of Ksh. 9,615 million,” it added.
This shortfall represents a funding gap of 73.3 percent, potentially stalling key infrastructure and research development projects that are crucial for the growth and modernization of higher education institutions.
In the 2024/2025 financial year, the State Department received a gross allocation of Sh120.4 billion, of which Sh119.2 billion was for recurrent expenditure and Sh1.2 billion for development expenditure.
The recurrent budget allocation of Sh119.2 billion included Sh74.1 billion from the government and Sh45.2 billion from Appropriations in Aid (AIA).
The development expenditure of Sh1,220 million comprised Sh1,150 million in foreign financing from development partners and Sh70 million allocated by the government through the National Treasury.
