| dc.description.abstract | This study aimed at investigating the quality of undergraduate computing curricula at Kenyan
universities, how they compare locally and regionally with equivalent programs and how closely
they meet the ICT sector needs. It was guided by four objectives i.e. to undertake an ontological
mapping of computing curricula, to identify appropriate benchmarking criteria, to develop and
test a benchmarking tool, and to investigate the alignment of these curricula to computing skills
requirement. The study was deemed important by the plethora of academic computing programs
of varying degrees of utility and credibility, which are a product of the escalating demand for
computing education in Kenya given the development of Vision 2030 and the rapid growth of
the ICT industry. To achieve its objectives, the study adopted a quantitative and qualitative
cross-sectional descriptive survey of computing curricula offered locally (in Kenya) and
regionally (from best practicing countries, USA and India). A sample of 70.3% was drawn from
the target population for ontological mapping, Two research instruments were developed from a
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conceptual framework i.e. a questionnaire and a document anaiysis framework that were
administered to a cross-section of 11 public/private universities. The study established that there
are 24 undergraduate computing programs under 6 titles, viz. BSc., BCom., BTech., BB., Bed.
and BEng. The two most populous programs are BSc. Computer Science (CS) and BSc.
Information Technology (IT), which were ~elected to help identify <two benchmarking criteria:
Percent weight allocation of core hours within ACM knowledge areas and Relative performance
capabilities of computing graduates. Using these criteria a benchmarking tool was developed
and tested, which depicted disparities among the respondents in the percent weight allocation of
core hours in CS programs. Similarly, it portrayed overlaps in the relative performance
capabilities of CS and IT graduates, an outcome that queried the uniqueness of these programs.
As such, the results indicated that the quality of the two computing programs is relatively
insufficient. However, the study' further established that the computing curricula are aligned to
meet the top 3 highly demanded computing skills i.e.-Networking, Software development and
Internet skills albeit insufficient percent weight •allocation of core hours in Software
development. The study therefore recommends further testing and refining of the established
. benchmarking tool, the need to re-focus the computing programs and supports the call to institute
a regulatory body and qualifications framework for computing education and skills. | en |
