The University of Eastern Africa, Baraton has closed four campuses and sent 300 staff home.
The institution closed campuses base in Nairobi, Kisumu, Kisii and Eldoret, and the affected students have all been admitted to the main campus in Chepterit, Nandi County.
The management has cited a huge wage bill and unstable economy as the reason behind the shutdown. O the management deemed it necessary to help the institution remain afloat.
The university, run by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, has also scrapped a number of courses it deems unnecessary.
The university’s vice-chancellor, Prof Philip Maiyo, on Tuesday said the institution has struggled in the past two years to clear pending bills amounting to over Sh600 million owed to suppliers and other creditors.
“Because of mismanagement in the past, Baraton University, which was the first private university to be given a charter in 1991 by retired President Daniel Moi, suffered greatly,” Prof Maiyo said.
He added that the austerity measures are meant to put the university back on track.
“When I took over three years ago, Baraton was collapsing because of high wage bill and pending bills. Suppliers were demanding over Sh600 million pending since 2016.
“We have implemented changes to reduce mismanagement and the university is now stable. We owe nobody anything,” he said, adding that the staff retrenchment had been conducted fairly, and those released were paid all their dues.
The VC revealed that the university had lost a number of lecturers, especially foreign ones, after going for a long time without pay.