The release of this year's Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) results has left thousands of students celebrating university admission, while some mourn the loss of their dream careers after being placed in courses they never wanted to pursue.
Some students are also unhappy with the universities they have been placed in. According to the placement service, competition was stiff from qualified candidates for some of the in-demand courses as well as some universities.
For many students therefore, securing a university place was little consolation after discovering they had missed out on the careers they had spent years preparing for.
“I had applied for medicine and surgery because that is what I have always wanted to do. When I checked the portal, I found I had been placed in a different course. I was shocked and disappointed because I had worked towards becoming a doctor,” said one student.
Another student who had hoped to pursue engineering said the placement had left him questioning whether to report to the university or seek a transfer.
“When I saw I'd been placed in a different course, I just stared at the screen for a while. It felt like everything I had worked towards had changed in an instant. I know I'm lucky to have secured a university place, but it's difficult to celebrate when it isn't the course I wanted. Right now, I'm torn between accepting the placement and trying to transfer,” the student said.
According to KUCCPS data, Medicine and Surgery attracted more than 6,500 applicants, yet universities had a declared capacity for only about 702 students. The applicants included 1,535 candidates who scored an A mean grade and 3,328 who attained A-, meaning they qualify for the course but failed to secure places in the programme.
The Chief Executive Officer of KUCCPS Dr Mercy Wahome said the placement process gives every applicant the first opportunity to compete for the programme they ranked highest before considering their subsequent choices.
She likened the system to students queuing in different "pipes", where everyone who selects the same course and institution as their first choice compete together.
“Everybody first queues in their first choice. If the available spaces are fewer than the applicants, those with the highest grades and cluster points take the available slots. Those who miss out are automatically considered for their second choice, then their third choice,” she said during an interview on NTV’s Fixing the Nation show on Thursday morning.
Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service CEO Agnes Mercy Wahome.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Dr Wahome said competition is especially intense in programmes such as Medicine and Surgery, where demand far exceeds the available capacity.
She added that some universities reserve part of their capacity for self-sponsored students, reducing the number of government-sponsored slots available through KUCCPS. For example, she said, one private university offering Medicine and Surgery declared only 15 places through the placement system despite having capacity to admit more students.
Applicants who fail to secure places in their preferred programmes are automatically considered for the next courses they selected, provided they meet the required subject cluster points and cut-off marks. Those who exhaust all their choices but indicate they are willing to be considered for any available programme are subsequently placed in courses with remaining vacancies.
Dr Wahome also revealed that about 40 percent of the students applied for education-related courses. She attributed this to the government’s sustained recruitment of teachers, saying parents are steering their children towards careers that offer stable public sector employment.
She said education remains one of the most sought-after degree programmes, driven largely by the promise of permanent and pensionable jobs. She noted that while many students may initially dismiss teaching as a career, their choices often change after KCSE results are released and families prioritise job security over personal preference.
“The government has talked about opportunities for teachers, employing teachers, and it is happening. That has also influenced the careers students want because everybody wants to work for government. They want an assurance that they have a salary every month. The permanent and pensionable aspect is still very attractive. Parents push that a lot. When we ask students in class who wants to be a teacher, they laugh. But when the results come out, a good number of them apply for education because the promise is a government job,” Dr Wahome said.
KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer Agnes Mercy Wahome.
Photo credit: File I Nation Media Group
However, about 3,000 applicants who did not secure any of their preferred programmes have opted not to be considered for alternative courses. Dr Wahome said the candidates did not receive placement offers because they had declined the option of being assigned to other available programmes.
"The system shows that you were not successful in any of your choices, and because you had not given us permission to consider you for any other programme, you are not placed," she said.
Dr Wahome said the affected applicants, together with the other 51,000 qualifiers who did not apply during the main placement window, will have another opportunity to submit applications.
She said the current placement system is more flexible than in previous years, when students who missed the placement cycle risked losing their chance to join university altogether. Applicants can still secure admission in subsequent application windows, while those already admitted are allowed to transfer to other programmes if vacancies arise and they meet the required cut-off points.
“To facilitate this, KUCCPS has extended the inter-institutional transfer period from the usual two weeks to one month. The window will also allow students admitted in previous years but who feel they enrolled in unsuitable programmes to apply for transfers before universities reopen in September,” she said.
KUCCPS placed 293,869 students into degree, diploma and certificate programmes across universities and tertiary institutions for the 2026/2027 academic year.
Of these, 202,133 secured degree placements, 28,246 joined the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), 500 were admitted to the Kenya School of Law's Diploma in Law (Paralegal Studies) programme, 765 to Kenya Utalii College and 875 to secondary teacher training colleges.
The placements come despite universities declaring ample capacity, KUCCPS said the Commission for University Education approved 327,157 vacancies in 43 public and 33 private universities for the placement cycle, in addition to about one million training opportunities in public Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.
