The InformED Report for May 2, 2017 began in Kenya, where the government planned to move part of its university funding away from the arts and toward technical training. It then looked at a ProQuest survey in which librarians said information literacy mattered greatly for students’ futures, while fewer than half thought their own libraries supported it well. The edition closed with Pasang Sherpa, who left Nepal and worked through years of hardship in the United States to study at Utah Valley University.
In this edition
- Kenya planned to divert some university funding to technical institutions through student loans, as part of a curriculum favouring science and technical courses.
- In a ProQuest survey of 217 librarians, 97 percent linked information literacy with success at work, but only 44 percent said their libraries supported it adequately.
- Pasang Sherpa, raised near Mount Everest, overcame language barriers and hardship to enrol at Utah Valley University.
Kenya shifts funding from the arts to technical training
SciDev.Net’s Baraka Rateng’ reported that Kenyan universities could see their government allocations cut from the next financial year if part of the money was moved to technical institutions. The change was part of a new curriculum expected to take effect in May, which would shift emphasis toward technical and science courses and away from the arts and social sciences. The money taken from universities would go to the Higher Education Loans Board, which would lend it to students at technical training institutions.
Education, science and technology cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i said he would lobby for more students to take technical courses. He argued that many students chose commerce, arts and theology, leaving Kenya with graduates holding degrees for jobs that did not exist, and that vocational training should not be seen as less prestigious. Beatrice Muganda of the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research disagreed. She argued that Kenya needs both, that cutting the arts would produce lopsided growth, and that universities exist to produce research and new knowledge as well as practical skills.
The debate was Kenya’s, but its terms were familiar to education leaders in many countries. Governments facing youth unemployment are drawn to funding the courses that lead most directly to jobs. The harder question, which neither side could settle with evidence at the time, was whether moving money between fields changes what graduates can do, or simply changes which students can afford to study what.
Librarians and the information literacy gap
In eSchool News, Laura Ascione reported on a ProQuest survey of 217 librarians from higher education, K-12 schools and public libraries. Eighty-three percent said information literacy, the ability to find, evaluate and use information well, had a large impact on college graduation rates, and 97 percent said it led to success in the workforce. Yet only 44 percent believed their libraries adequately supported the skill, and nearly half said their libraries did not advocate for it as much as they should. A ProQuest spokesperson named lack of budget and limited staffing among the greatest barriers.
The survey records librarians’ own judgements, from a fairly small sample, so it shows a perceived gap rather than measuring students’ skills. The perception still matters to school leaders. Librarians reported that partnering with teachers and faculty was their top priority, and in K-12 schools that partnership offers a direct way to teach students how to judge a source, inside the subjects where they already do research.
InformED Report spotlight: Pasang Sherpa’s road to Utah Valley University
The spotlight went to one student. Alexis Glauser of the Daily Herald in Utah told the story of Pasang Sherpa, who grew up almost in the shadow of Mount Everest in Nepal. Her father had left the family when she was 8 and moved to a small town in Colorado, and at 17 she left home to join him. One of the first things she noticed in the United States was how easy everyday life was for Americans, because her own had been much harder.
The Daily Herald’s account described a young woman who had left a system that routinely limited women’s education and kept them at home. In the United States her road included demanding jobs, a significant language barrier and a period when she was forced out of her own home before she began her studies at Utah Valley University. When she finishes her education, she plans to return to Nepal to speak for the importance of education for women and to help young girls reach their goals.
Her story is one student’s, and it cannot stand for every immigrant learner. It is still a reminder to colleges and schools that serve immigrant students that the barriers to enrolment are often outside the classroom, in housing, work and language, and that support in those areas can decide whether a capable student stays in school.
Further reading from that week
- The Art Newspaper: The independent Centre for the Less Good Idea aims to stay small and be creative
- Fordham Observer: Fordham Libraries Rolls Out ‘Fake News’ Guide
- The Collegian: International student from Afghanistan finds new home at K-State
Sources
- Baraka Rateng’, “Kenya to cut arts education fund for technical schools,” SciDev.Net, February 20, 2017.
- Laura Ascione, “Librarians: Information literacy is a must-have skill,” eSchool News, February 2017.
- Alexis Glauser, “Nepal native woman overcomes challenges on her way to getting an education at UVU,” Daily Herald, 2017.
About the InformED Report
The InformED Report is edCircuit’s short news program on education. This edition first ran on May 2, 2017. In 2026, edCircuit re-presented it with a new anchor and this full written account. Both report the stories as they stood on that date and link the original reporting, so readers can see exactly where each claim came from.
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