Factors influencing levels of research funding to Kenyan public Universities by non-governmental agencies

Abstract

This study explores the factors that determine the extent or levels of funding by nongovernmental agencies towards research activities in public universities in Kenya. The vision, mission and core values of many a university demonstrate the importance placed upon research activities within it (the university). Research has increasingly been the "indicator" of excellence of any university. We must appreciate however, that research involvement is very costly and therefore most universities are unable to effectively conduct them without some form of external assistance to supplement the funds that they receive from the government. It is for this reason that universities identify external donors who assist them financially or otherwise to conduct the research. To address this problem of research funding, this study examines the extent to which various factors influence the levels of grant funding to Kenyan public universities by non-governmental agencies. The study integrated both qualitative and quantitative methods. The approach was descriptive which was considered the most appropriate as it was able to explain the various factors. The study was conducted on a sample size of thirty seven randomly selected donor funding institutions where the target populations were the officers in - charge of research funds disbursement. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Principal Components Analysis were used to analyse the data after which the report was compiled. The results derived from the study show that various factors influence research funding to universities, but each does to varying degrees. The most influential factor was the research meeting the donors' overall objective followed by universities submitting acceptable proposals. These are very critical to donor funding. The research established a basis for further research on donor funding. A similar study may be conducted in future, or in a different organization, for example private universities and the results compared. Areas could be on the adequacy of donor funding, or in cases of insufficient funding the subsequent implications that are likely to be blamed on funding scarcity.