Using instruments to regulate universities: Higher education experiences in Kenya and Uganda

Based on Kenyan and Ugandan case studies, the aim of this article is to discuss the mechanisms behind the new university engineering that is being produced and implemented in East Africa. We analyze two main instruments shaping the higher education sector: quality assurance standards and national objectives regulating knowledge practices in government development programs. We demonstrate that when we study the production of these Public Policy Instruments (PPIs), our two case studies present similar trajectories in terms of the nature of these instruments and the actors driving them. However, the Kenyan and Ugandan case studies show contrasting results in the implementation of PPIs and, more broadly, in higher education reforms. While the Kenyan case of the University of Nairobi confirms the importance of PPIs in the regulation of the sector and its institutions, the Ugandan example of Makerere University illustrates the original and undesired discrepancies and effects that may occur during the implementation of PPIs.