Thousands of Kenya Certificate Secondary Education (KCSE) exam candidates who qualified for university admission have missed out on their preferred degree programmes and will now have to apply for alternative courses.
Data from the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) shows that 32,718 candidates who scored a mean grade of C plus and above have not been placed in any of the choices they selected for various reasons.
They will, however, be given another opportunity to revise their choices to match their grades. Candidates are placed according to their individual performance, overall performance and available capacity. All programmes have minimum subject requirements and this also varies across the universities.
KUCCPS said yesterday that a further 10,707 candidates who scored C plus and above did not submit any application for placement and subsequent sponsorship by the government. The placement was done for Kenyan citizens only and leaves out foreigners and inmates.
“We do not wish to leave behind any candidate qualified to join university hence our move to allow those yet to be placed to make a second revision,” KUCCPS chief executive officer, Dr Agnes Mercy Wahome, said, adding that efforts to track those who failed to apply for admission would be made. She revealed that 94,275 candidates have already been placed to the degree courses they selected.
They will be able to view their notification through their student portals from today. The notification will only indicate that a candidate has been placed in one of their preferred four choices. The specifics regarding the courses will be available after all students have been placed.
Students had to choose from 546 degree programmes offered in 38 public universities and their constituent colleges and 33 private universities. Some students opted not to apply for degree programmes, preferring to join technical and vocational education and training (Tvet) institutions.
The students will report to the various universities out of 142,540 who qualified for placement, 131,833 (92.5 per cent) had applied for their preferred courses in local public and private universities and Tvets.
In total, 143,140 candidates had scored C Plus and above, an increase from the 125,747 who qualified in 2019. In the results released in May, 893 candidates scored A plain, 6,420 candidates scored A minus, 14,427 scored B plus, 38,194 candidates had B minus while 57,999 scored C plus.
A majority of the students applied for placement before they sat the tests but revised their choices based on their performance when the portal was opened for revision last month.
The cost of revision of the courses is Sh1,500 per applicant. KUCCPS services are available at the 11 Huduma centres countrywide and universities. Some universities also have set up help desks to assist students.
Candidates who wish to pursue Tvet courses will apply for placement through the KUCCPS portal to study either diploma, craft or artisan courses. The government has invested heavily in Tvets although uptake has been slow.
