Universities are facing growing scrutiny over how they govern themselves, protect academic integrity and maintain public confidence in the knowledge they produce.
The issue featured prominently at a recent Pre-Summit Roundtable organised by Strathmore University on restoring trust in academia and the knowledge economy.
Prof. Gilbert Kokwaro, who delivered the keynote presentation, said universities could no longer expect society to trust them simply because of their academic status.
He argued that trust must be demonstrated through institutional decisions, the production of knowledge, treatment of stakeholders and accountability for resources and authority entrusted to universities.
“When stakeholders believe that important university decisions are driven by political, personal or patronage considerations rather than academic merit and institutional mission, confidence in the institution’s independence declines,” Prof. Kokwaro said.
His concerns are reflected in research on higher education governance in Kenya. A study of 10 public universities found that centralised decision-making, unclear roles, bureaucratic processes, perceived leadership bias and favouritism contributed to tensions between academic and administrative staff.
Research has also identified limited student participation in important university governance structures, with formal representation sometimes amounting to what researchers described as tokenism.
Kokwaro described this as a question of procedural trust — the confidence that decisions are reached through fair and transparent processes, even when stakeholders do not agree with the final outcome.
Academic and research integrity presents another challenge. Concerns about research misconduct, including fabrication and falsification, have raised questions about the capacity of institutions to prevent and respond to breaches of academic standards.
“Research integrity cannot be delegated to an ethics committee. Examination integrity cannot be delegated to the office of a Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Both must be embedded in culture, incentives, supervision, promotion, research funding, publication practice and leadership behaviour,” he said.
Kokwaro also linked trust to the financial pressures facing universities. Institutions seeking greater financial sustainability must consider whether the methods used to generate income reinforce or undermine their academic credibility.
He described the process as a trust cascade, in which decisions by university leadership affect faculty relations, the student experience and, ultimately, public perceptions of the institution.
He proposed viewing trust as a balance sheet, with assets such as academic excellence, research integrity, transparent governance and fair processes, and liabilities including favouritism, conflicts of interest, political interference, misconduct and opaque decision-making.
“Assets take years to accumulate. Liabilities can be incurred in a single decision,” he said.
The Strathmore roundtable is part of preparations for the Trust Summit 2026, scheduled for Nairobi from October 21 to 23. The summit will examine issues including governance, multilateralism, trust as an economic asset and information integrity in the digital age.
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