<html><head></head><body><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">The most dangerous form of quackery is <b>institutionalized quackery</b>. This happens when the following practices become pervasive:</div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">1. Grades for sale / barter;<br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">2. A culture of academic cheating / plagiarism / cronyism;<br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">3. Academic Sophistry (using twisted sentences, jargon and fallacies to obfuscate useless garbage in fake dissertations);<br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">4. Disconnect between choice of research topics (or academic focus) v/s the real-world needs of the country;<br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">5. A pervasive belief that a certificate (not real-world practice) is the indisputable authority on level of competence and/or ability;<br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">6. Due to 5, a pervasive belief in academia, and society, that the main goal of education is to "get the papers";<br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">7.
The likelihood that thesis supervisors themselves are products of a
broken system - thus (un)wittingly spreading institutionalized quackery;</div></span><div>8. Lack of commitment to solving real-world problems which are perceived as lacking "academic flavor";</div><div>9. Mindless pedantry.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Visit <b>KIPI </b>and check the number of <b>approved patents </b>- then compare against the number of <b>claimed inventions </b>in our <b>universities</b>. <span>Our universities don't seem capable of challenging ridiculous claims of novelty (despite the implications on <b>institutional credibility</b>) and this has led to a total mockery of words like "invention" and/or "innovation".</span></div><div><br></div><div>One may argue that perhaps the universities don't want to patent their inventions in favor of academic progress - but that would be a major indictment on their real-world judgment/reasoning - given their well publicized cash strapped condition and heavy dependency on taxpayer subsidies. There are many types of conditional releases that allow for realization of IP revenues without stifling academic research. If our universities have a real IP resource, why are they not monetizing it???? This is intellectual madness.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Contrast with Stanford, for example, <span>which earns > <b>Ksh, 4.5 Billion </b>annually from licensing royalties (>800 patents). Their <b>Alumini </b>have helped created high value global companies - which have transformed the world and achieved staggering valuations (e.g. Google, Linkedin, eBay, Cisco, Dolby, HP, Instagram, NVIDIA, Sun, Yahoo! etc - with a cumulative value in excess of <b>Ksh. 1,000 Trillion (yes, Ksh. 1 Sextillon) </b>- <u>enough value to run our country tax free on >Ksh 6 Trillion budget for ~<b>150 years</b></u>!). <br></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Intellectual Property can generate more value (while being far easier to commercialize) than oil / gas / minerals. Why is our government not obsessed with commercializing indigenous IP?<br></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div>The people in charge of Kenya's tertiary education don't seem to have an idea of the scale of economic potential that they are sitting on (and how to unlock it). Observe the ongoing <b>US v/s</b> <b>China </b><span>technology dominance "</span>war" for example - these countries understand the <b>link </b>between <b>indigenous innovation</b> and <b>economic progress</b> and it is no surprise that they are world's <span>top two economies</span>. <br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Instead of Academic PhDs Kenya should <b>issue Honorary PhDs </b>for <b>real-world achievements</b> in advancing the nation - and the prestige of such doctorates should be higher than that of academic PhDs. This will help shift mindsets from abstract academic activity to real world solutions.<br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Meanwhile, the government should suspend academic PhDs to allow for reallocation of scarce resources more productive areas e.g. developing market structures for rapid commercialization of indigenous innovations.<br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">For the PhDs have already been issued, there needs to be a mechanism for revocation when:</div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">1. the holder repeatedly fails to demonstrate <b>reasoning skills</b> in public discussions (especially around their field of expertise) that justify a doctorate status</div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">2. the holder's track record of <b>achievement in the real world</b> is no different than (or far surpassed by) an undergrad or college dropout <span>(not personal achievement - but value addition to the country or society) </span><br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">3. the holder lacks <b>self awareness </b>and does not seem to know the bounds of his/her competence (heavily relies on "academic rank" to support unsound claims or reject rebuttals)<br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">If we don't urgently contextualize our tertiary education system to focus on <b>local real world challenges</b> (i.e. how to grow a tiny, low income African nation that is plagued by poverty, corruption and incompetence - despite having a "highly educated" population) we will continue to be plagued by the same repeating problems for yet another generation and this article (among others) will be proof, for our children and their descendants, that <b>we neglected our duty willingly</b> - in full knowledge of the consequences.</div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">I am open to (and happily invite) sensible rebuttals on this topic. <br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Brgds,</div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Patrick A. M. Maina</div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;">(Independent Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations)<br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div class="ydp75c761a5yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div></body></html>