Half a million miss out on sponsored university slots

Over half a million learners in Kenya have missed out when it comes to securing the highly sought-after government-sponsored university slots in an admission cycle that has exposed areas of concern in the higher education sector.

Data released by the Ministry of Education on Tuesday 8 June in Nairobi indicate that 563,479 students who sat for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination – the university entry level test – will now have to seek self-sponsored places in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions.

Following the successful completion of the placement process, 122,831 candidates have secured placement to degree courses in universities while 88,724 were placed in TVET institutions under the government-funded scheme.

The University of Nairobi, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Mount Kenya University will take most (66%) of the students under the government sponsorship programme.

Of those placed in TVET institutions, 53,726 will be admitted to various diploma courses; 29,112 to craft certificate and 5,886 to artisan certificate courses, said Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha.

The release of the placement figures has revealed five key data points in Kenya’s higher education sector.

First, thousands of students continue to fall off the mainstream education system as the transition rate to universities continues to falter. From the statistics, only a measly 18% of the qualified leavers will join universities to pursue degree programmes under the state-funded plan. However, the number of qualifiers for university slots this year increased by 13.7%, with 35,369 more students making the cut for university entry compared to 90,377 last year.

Calls for reforms

“Overall, the admission trends point to the need for strategic reforms in higher education. All qualifiers get admission, many to courses of their choice. But that is the rosy part of the story. Several other challenges still remain,” said the Daily Nation newspaper in a 2 June editorial headlined “University admissions herald need for reform”.

Secondly, the available capacity in public universities – at 114,000 students – is inadequate to absorb all qualifying students, meaning that 11,449 students will have to be admitted to private universities but sponsored by the government. That is not a story private universities want to hear as the government pays only US$600 per student annually to keep them in school, compared to the US$1,500 it gives to support a student in a public university.

Thirdly, technical and vocational institutions, historically underfunded and ordinarily despised by potential students, are emerging as a crucial part of the education system. But TVET institutions can only absorb about 350,000 students, roughly 62%. The rest will be enrolled in local polytechnics.

TVET status upgrade

John Muraguri, the chief executive at Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service, the agency that selects students on behalf of the government, said interest among students in TVETs was relatively low despite government efforts to upgrade their status.

"We would like to ask the government to push for schools to compel students to fill their choice of courses especially for TVET institutions," Muraguri said.

However, it’s not all gloom for TVETs. The government said some 2,632 who had qualified for degree programmes opted to join TVETs, a proportion Magoha described as “significant” and an indication of a change in mindset.

Fourthly, 56 courses have failed to attract any students, raising questions about how the regulator, the Commission for University Education, allowed their roll-out. The programmes, which had 2,905 places in 20 universities, were largely in zoology, theology, environment, development and agriculture.

“We wish to direct the universities offering those programmes to establish why they are not attractive and implement corrective measures,” Magoha said.

STEM enrolments

Lastly, 54% of the successful students (66,661) will be admitted to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM programmes while the balance will pick up social sciences and related courses – a big plus for the government which has been pushing to have more students enrolled in science and technology.

Educationists say the success of Kenya’s growth ambitions is hinged on an adequate supply of technical skills. The government has identified technical courses such as automotive engineering, plant engineering, masonry, plumbing and other crafts as key drivers of its plan. The country’s economic blueprint for the next two years is built on four pillars: food security, affordable healthcare, manufacturing and housing.