A SURVEY OF PERSONAL PHYSICAL SECURITY AWARENESS IN STUDENTS IN SELECTED UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA 1990-2019.

The end of the Cold War brought with it changes in the international security, with an escalation in intra-state conflicts, characterized with violence perpetuated by discernable and not so discrete foes. This challenge broadens dimensions of security to include human, social, economic, political, and environmental aspects which provide referent objects which are securitized. In line with securitization, a response to the asymmetric wars configured in terrorism whose preference is to attack "soft targets" such as people on holiday, revelers, shoppers, worshippers, and of particular concern to this study, university students. Unlike critical infrastructures which are well guarded by armed personnel, universities are core soft targets made of intellectuals and their trainees, who have bare military training and any inkling on how to respond in case of a terrorist attack. This makes such institutions susceptible as they hold tens of thousands of persons at any given time, making them a strategic attraction and target for terrorist aimed at causing maximum damage and fear among civilian populations. Granted the high risk area that universities are, the study aimed to establish the level of physical security awareness and subsequent preparedness to deal with such issues among students in selected universities in Kenya. Findings showed 89.4% of the respondents considered physical security as a personal responsibility. Only a paltry 7.5% of respondents had received some form of personal security training yet extant literature suggests that security awareness training is proportional to improved security awareness. The universities surveyed had emergency response instructions in the students' handbooks detailing how to respond to emergencies such as fi re, which is in consistency with international best practices. Students covered in this survey had practical ideas of what can be done to improve their physical security. We conclude that learning to live with the threat can be enhanced through training and conduct of drills to acquaint students with martial arts and self-defense skills. Students as a corporate body are an agency with capacity to be tapped by university management in planning and execution of physical security best practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]