This article examines the unique challenges facing Kenya's public higher education institutions. It explores the struggle to develop quality and quality assurance mechanisms against a background of rapidly diminishing income, brain drain, political interference and the negative aspects of globalisation. The challenges have consequently led to a decline in the quality of education and left higher education hanging on a thread. The article argues that the higher education sector requires clear policies of rewarding and retaining talented staff and ways of dealing with the politically instigated expansion. It provides an opportunity for reflection on policies and practices in Kenya's higher education sector and suggests an urgent need for reforms. Quality assurance could play a key role in initiating these reforms.