The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) has opposed the proposal by Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha to merge public universities.
Addressing the press in Nairobi Thursday, UASU Secretary-General Dr. Constantine Wasonga termed the move by Education Secretary George Magoha as ill-advised.
UASU claims it will not accept anything that has not taken into consideration the views of stakeholders involved in higher learning adding that the merger plan was punitive and risked undermining higher education.
Dr. Wasonga said Prof. Magoha should consult with all education stakeholders on the proposal.
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At the same time, Dr Wasonga asked the education CS to explain to Kenyans how much the government intended to save by merging public universities.
He wondered how merging broke universities would make them financially sound.
The union has threatened to take unspecified action if the government moves ahead to merge universities without involving stakeholders.
According to the government, the proposed reforms have been necessitated by the high cost of running public universities.
The Education ministry has given universities two weeks to prepare a list of the institutions to be merged and those to be shut down.
At a meeting with vice-chancellors and finance officers of the 31 chartered public universities and seven university colleges, Prof. Magoha asked the administrators to lay ground for the drastic measures.
The Commission for University Education (CUE) will also submit its report on the merger on July 31, which is different from what vice-chancellors are expected to draft.