Nairobi, April 21 -- In an era where large language models of artificial intelligence are widely used and studies show a dumbing down of society whereby thinking frequently now gets offloaded to AI, it has never been more critical to champion doctoral education as a harbinger of knowledge creation and dissemination.

As we advocate enhancing doctoral education, let us find ways to fix various broken aspects of PhD and DBA programmes.

Here in Kenya, British Council and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) research shows that only 11 percent of doctoral students finish within six years.

The Commission for University Education (CUE) shows a similar figure at 13 percent. We have one of the highest PhD dropout rates in the world. It w...