20,000 miss out on preferred varsity courses

Nearly a third of 2014 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination candidates failed to get their first course choices, following the selection of students to join public universities.

Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS)—the body charged with admitting students to public universities—says that about 20,000 students will have to do a second and final revision of course choices ahead of the September admission date.

KUCCPS chief executive officer John Muraguri said the candidates missed their preferred choices because they had picked competitive courses.

“Some students also did not come forward to revise their courses and that is why we are giving them the final chance to revise their choices,” Mr Muraguri said on Tuesday.

The students have until June 20 to select fresh courses.

He said candidates would be informed in July of their choices after the selection process is completed.

Liberal Arts and Environmental courses were least preferred because candidates felt they offered fewer openings in the job market.

Bachelor of Arts courses proved to be the most unpopular and had more than 3,000 unfilled capacities. Medicine and law were the most popular and KUCCPS says all positions have been filled, narrowing the choices for the candidates as they seek to revise their choices.

Statistics from KUCCPS indicate that 67,124 students will join public universities in September compared to 57,250 last year.

Last year, 149,717 students attained the minimum university entry mark of C+ or better, a 27.5 per cent increase from 123,365 in 2013.

About 3,073 candidates scored an overall mean grade of A, up from 2,722 in 2013, while 11,768 candidates scored an A- , 19,814 scored B+, 29,319 scored B, 38,315 scored B-.

The cut-off point for placement under government sponsored programmes remains a B of 60 points for males and B- of 58 points for female candidates.

Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology had the highest number of unfilled capacities at 1,644 followed by Moi University (1,447) and University of Nairobi with 1,154.

“All candidates with a minimum overall grade of C- and above and who have not benefited from government sponsorship in the past are eligible to apply for diploma programmes,” said Mr Muraguri.

The Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) has been allocated Sh7.5billion for loans to the varsity students, but the agency reckon that the amount is in adequate.

The number of students enrolled in public universities grew 25.4 per cent last year to 363, 334, buoyed by the approval of new degree courses and the setting up of new universities.

Varsity students stood at 38, 733 in 2000, nearly a ten-fold growth over the past 15 years, in what is putting pressure on the government to create jobs for the graduates.

The high enrolment is also putting pressure on university facilities at a time the institutions are struggling to raise cash for upgrade.