Quality Personnel the Bane of the University Students Participation in National Competition?: The Case of Kenya

Abstract

Kenyan university students have performed relatively poorly compared to their counterparts in Australia and the United Kingdom when it has come to International sports participations. Could this be attributed to the personnel handling sports at the Kenyan Universities? This study went out to look at the perceptions of the students participating in sports at public and private universities in Kenya. Further, the study went out to look at the qualifications and quantification of personnel in both private and public universities in Kenya. The study used a descriptive research design. A questionnaire was used on 268 students responded. An interview schedule was used on 10 directors and chairmen of sports directorates and departments. A further 28 sports personnel in public and private universities in Kenya were also used in the study. The results indicate that personnel in Kenyan University had diverse field of training. There was need to arrest this diversity and create a more focused sports trained personnel if the Kenyan university expect to make the same impact as that of Australia and the United Kingdom in international sport. Results also show that private universities in Kenya have better and available personnel than the public universities.