Theological Education in Contemporary Africa

Chapter Fourteen - Residential and Distance Approaches to Theological Education

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Residential and Distance Approaches to Theological Education Godfrey Nguru Introduction I n the last two decades we have witnessed drastic changes in political socio-economic systems internationally and here in Kenya. We saw the fall of the Berlin wall, which for many decades divided East Germany from West Germany, leading to the creation of a united German state. We saw the collapse of one of the world’s superpowers,theSovietUnion,andemergenceofseveralindependent states from what used to be known as the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. These events have left the U.S.A. as the only super power to ‘police’ the world. The recent war in Iraq waged by U.S.A and Britain against the strong opposition from the rest of the international community is clear evidence of the changed international political scene. On the continent of Africa, we saw the dismantling of the Apartheid system in South Africa and fall of several dictatorial governments, including the Kenya system only last year. We have witnessed the clamour for democratic space and for freeing of the airwaves. People have demanded and in many countries won the freedom of expression and association. In many parts of Africa, including Kenya, this has led to a more liberalized economic system Theological Education in Contemporary Africa without the price and market controls that characterized earlier decades. This democratization and liberalization of the political and social economic system have to a great extent affected higher education. The otherwise elitist and closed public university system has opened up to more students through what has come to be called “parallel programmes” mainly for private or self-sponsored students. This change has been forced on universities by the need to generate additional income to make up for reduced government grants. We have witnessed the proliferation of extension and long distance programmes by public universities where educational centres have been opened up in small urban areas to service students who cannot travel to larger campuses. Various forms of partnership have been formed between public universities and other post-secondary institutions in order to offer degree courses, a development which was unthinkable two decades ago. Moi University in Eldoret, for example, has partnered with the Kenya Institute of Management to offer the M.B.A. degree. All this has happened alongside stiff competition from overseas institutions of higher education, many of them for several years now, conducting aggressive campaigns to attract Kenyan students to their campuses. Many of these institutions, including some from South Africa, regularly run expensive advertisements in the daily press in the effort to enroll new students. Some foreign universities have launched partnerships with tertiary institutions in Kenya to offer the degrees of these foreign institutions. Others, like the University of South Africa (UNISA), are directly offering their degree programme to students in Kenya through distance education. All this is happening while most theological institutions in this country are still stuck to a traditional, onsite residential system of education. In this paper the term ‘higher education’ will be used to cover all studies and training activities at the tertiary level. It encompasses universities offering classical disciplines (arts and science faculties, including theology) as well as specialized branches (agriculture, 238 engineering and technology). Furthermore, the concept incorporates traditional post-secondary school institutions such as polytechnics, teacher training colleges, theological colleges, and other vocational schools. Consequently, ‘higher education’ embodies all forms of vocational institutions, including theology. The Residential System It is probable that the majority of us at this conference received formal education through the traditional residential mode of educational delivery. In this mode the classroom has been thought of as a place in which the teacher gives information and the student takes it all in. Traditionally, the teacher is the library and the authoritative source of all knowledge and information. The student is the passive recipient of this information. The student may be in class but does not speak much. The student is considered an empty vessel without ideas of his own or her own, and with no experience or skills to be shared with the class. The student simply waits to be filled. The all-knowing teacher is expected to fill these students with information and skills. The teacher thus gives information and does not allow the students to ask questions or to think for themselves.1 The traditional system has been onsite or residential. It is basically a closed system in...