Universities Academic Staff Union, University of Nairobi chapter secretary George Osanjo addresses the media in Nairobi on August 3, 2026. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]
The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) has warned that the University of Nairobi stands to lose up to 70 per cent of its academic workforce within five years if the government proceeds to implement the policy lowering the retirement age for lecturers and professors.
The union is demanding the immediate withdrawal of a Public Service Commission (PSC) circular, saying it could trigger mass retirements and cripple teaching, research and innovation at the country’s oldest public university.
Addressing the media on Monday, Uasu, University of Nairobi chapter, condemned the circular dated March 2, 2026, and its subsequent addendum of April 28, which lowers the retirement age of professors from 74 to 70 years, and that of senior lecturers and other academic staff from 70 to 65.
The scale of the crisis, Uasu says, is not hypothetical but already underway. It says the University of Nairobi has not recruited academic staff since 2020 after introducing a hiring freeze due to financial difficulties.
As a result, the institution has already lost about 40 per cent of its academic staff. “Today, the university has barely 60 per cent of the academic staff it had six years ago,” said the statement read by Uasu’s UoN chapter secretary Prof George Osanjo.
Should the revised retirement policy take effect, Uasu projects that another 40 per cent of the remaining lecturers would be forced to retire, leaving the university with only about 30 to 40 per cent of the academic workforce it had in 2020, representing a cumulative loss of between 60 and 70 per cent. “University of Nairobi can’t realistically survive such a drastic reduction in its teaching staff within a period of only five years.”