A university lecturer’s work does not end when a lecture concludes. Beyond the classroom, there are assignments to assess, students to mentor, research to conduct, curricula to develop and academic communities to strengthen.
These responsibilities are integral to higher education, yet they are difficult to fulfil when staffing is treated primarily as a question of how many people are needed to deliver lectures.
Kenya’s university staffing figures invite closer examination. According to the Commission for University Education (CUE), adjunct academic staff increased from 379 in 2023 to 758 in 2024, reaching 1,611 in 2025. This represents more than a fourfold increase in two years.
These figures do not, by themselves, establish that educational quality has declined or that part-time lecturers are less capable than their full-time counterparts. They do, however, raise an important question: are universities building the academic capacity required to support growing enrolment, or increasingly depending on flexible staffing arrangements to meet immediate teaching demands?
Teaching as the Principal Measure
Part-time lecturers make valuable contributions to universities. Experienced professionals bring industry knowledge into academic programmes, while specialist instructors enable institutions to offer courses without recruiting permanent staff for every subject.
The concern is not the existence of adjunct appointments, but their potential institutionalisation as the principal means of expanding teaching capacity.
Universities require academics who can supervise research, advise students, review curricula, contribute to departmental decisions and sustain scholarly inquiry. These responsibilities demand time, continuity and institutional support.
A lecturer working across several institutions, for instance, may have limited availability for consultations outside scheduled classes. This is not necessarily a reflection of commitment or ability; it may be a consequence of competing professional obligations and the terms of engagement.
A staffing model can therefore be efficient at delivering lectures while remaining inadequate for the wider responsibilities of higher education.
Full-Time Employment, Guarantee of Mentorship?
The discussion must also examine the other side of the equation. Are full-time lecturers consistently fulfilling the responsibilities that justify their central place in university staffing?
Permanent employment does not automatically translate into accessible academic guidance, timely feedback or effective research supervision. Universities should investigate whether students can reach their lecturers, receive feedback on assignments and access appropriate academic advising.
It would be unfair to assume that full-time academics are failing their students. Many contend with substantial teaching loads, administrative duties, research expectations and supervisory responsibilities. Their capacity to support students depends partly on the conditions in which they work.
Nevertheless, universities must assess what students actually receive rather than assume that permanent staffing guarantees quality. Where academics are stretched across large classes and competing responsibilities, expanding enrolment without reviewing workloads may weaken the very functions permanent employment should help protect.
The objective is not to elevate one category of lecturer above another, but to ensure that every student receives capable teaching, appropriate supervision and reliable academic support.
Not an African Problem Alone
International experience offers useful perspective. In the United States, the American Association of University Professors reported that 68 per cent of faculty appointments were contingent in autumn 2023, while 49 per cent of faculty members were employed part-time.
These figures use US definitions and cannot be directly compared with Kenya’s adjunct headcount, but they demonstrate that reliance on non-permanent academic employment extends beyond Africa.
The OECD has likewise identified precarious contracts and high workloads among concerns affecting academic careers. At the same time, part-time academics can strengthen links between universities and professional practice. The challenge is to preserve these benefits without compromising the broader functions of academic institutions.
Oxford University has also faced scrutiny over its employment arrangements. A 2024 investigation reported that 61 per cent of tutorial instruction across 24 Oxford colleges in the 2023–2024 academic year was delivered by staff in fixed-term or hourly-paid roles.
Although this is not directly comparable with Kenya’s situation, it illustrates that even established institutions must confront questions about the employment structures underpinning their teaching.
The lesson is not to imitate foreign models, but to examine which staffing arrangements support educational quality and under what conditions.
Building a University Workforce That Serves Everyone
A practical response begins with deliberate workforce planning. Universities should determine staffing requirements using enrolment projections, class sizes, programme needs, research commitments and student-supervision demands.
Permanent recruitment should remain central to long-term academic capacity, while part-time appointments should address defined needs, including specialist teaching and temporary increases in demand.
Second, mentorship must become an explicit institutional responsibility. Universities can establish academic advising systems, scheduled consultation hours, reasonable supervision allocations and student feedback mechanisms. Performance reviews should consider teaching and student guidance alongside research and administrative duties.
Third, part-time lecturers should be integrated into university life through clear contracts, timely payment, access to teaching resources and participation in relevant departmental planning. Preparation, assessment and other required duties should be recognised in workload and remuneration arrangements rather than treating classroom contact hours as the entirety of the job.
Finally, government and university councils must confront the financial realities of expansion. Staffing, laboratories, libraries, digital infrastructure and student support require sustained investment.
Where resources are constrained, institutions should publish realistic recruitment plans, prioritise critical needs and explain how existing resources are allocated. Expansion targets must be accompanied by credible plans for delivering the education promised.
CUE can strengthen accountability by publishing annual data on student-to-academic ratios, employment categories, workloads, research supervision and access to academic advising. This would help distinguish strategic use of adjuncts from dependence driven by persistent staffing shortages.
The Measure of Expansion
Africa needs universities that widen access to higher education while strengthening research, innovation and professional development. Lecturers are not merely units of teaching capacity; they are part of the intellectual infrastructure through which universities develop knowledge and guide emerging professionals.
Part-time lecturers have a place in that system, just as full-time academics have responsibilities extending beyond their employment status. Neither group should become a convenient solution to institutional staffing pressures.
An expanding enrolment figure may demonstrate that more students are entering university, but it cannot tell us whether they receive adequate supervision, engage with their lecturers or develop the skills their qualifications promise.
University expansion should therefore be judged not only by admissions and staffing numbers, but by whether institutions provide the conditions necessary for learning, research and academic development to flourish.
A university must do more than fill its lecture halls. It must build the academic community capable of making those halls worth entering.
EduTimes Africa, a product of Education Times Africa, is a magazine publication that aims to lend its support to close the yawning gap in Africa's educational development.