Students hoping to join universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions (TVETs) will make their applications from next week, after the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) opens the portal.
This was announced on Monday by KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer Agnes Mercy Wahome during a meeting with registrars of all universities.
The institutions are currently in a rush against time to provide data in compliance with the new funding model announced by President William Ruto last week.
The universities have been given up to tomorrow (Tuesday) to provide information on the cost of their programmes to KUCCPS after which the service will publish the information to help students make their choices.
During the Monday meeting, Dr Wahome instructed the registrars to provide the cost of all their programmes irrespective of whether the students are self-sponsored or government-sponsored.
“What’s the cost of your programme? The many definitions [of students] as government-sponsored or self-sponsored cause complications. What does it cost to offer the service,” Dr Wahome said.
Dr Wahome told the registrars to only give the cost of the various programmes excluding the accommodation and meals costs.
Under the new model announced by Dr Ruto, there will be no block funding for students in universities but rather each student will be funded depending on the cost of the course they are undertaking and at a percentage to be determined by the government.
During the meeting with registrars, Dr Wahome asked the institutions to only provide the actual cost of the first year of each programme for purposes of admitting the 2022 candidates.
Previously, universities have been funded through the Universities Funding using the differentiated unit cost (DUC) which was implemented in 2015.
It provides the maximum cost of courses across all universities but this is bound to change under the new system as universities have varying costs.
Dr Wahome said that the cost of programmes in engineering and clinical medicines will likely vary over the years because of the internships that go with them.
On Saturday, Dr Wahome had written to universities asking them to provide the data by Tuesday indicating the cost per year.
“Kindly note that even though Kuccps will publish all programmes, the government will only provide scholarships to students who select degree programmes in public universities. Therefore, students who will select programs in private universities and Tvets, will not get government scholarships, and will only be eligible to apply for Helb loan.
