Search now starts for private varsities to tap State-funded students
University of Nairobi freshmen wait to fill in registration forms last year. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
Kenya rolls out long-awaited plan to ease admissions burden in public colleges.
The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service has asked private universities keen on admitting government-sponsored students to register with it before Saturday.
This comes in a period that has seen a sharp rise in enrolment of students in public universities with a three-fold growth from 62, 677 learners to 194, 528 last year.
The search for private universities and colleges that will admit students sponsored by the government started on Monday.
The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (Kuccps) has asked private universities keen on admitting government-sponsored students to register with it before Saturday.
Kuccps, which replaced the Joint Admissions Board (JAB) in February, says the registration is optional and the universities and colleges will pay a membership fee of Sh100,000 and Sh70,000 respectively.
The extension of the benefits of subsidised university education beyond public institutions is expected to motivate expansion of private universities and address the shortage of spaces for qualified candidates in public universities.
This means that some of the 123,365 candidates who scored C+ and above in last year’s KCSE examination can now opt to join the likes of Strathmore, USIU, and Daystar universities and still enjoy government sponsorship.
“Registration is not mandatory and only those universities or colleges that are ready and willing to admit State-sponsored students should apply to be members,” said David Some, the chief executive of the Commission of University Education..
The registration process will precede the stakeholders’ workshop that will be held next Tuesday in Nairobi to develop a criteria for admission under the new entry mode.
Prof Some said students who elect to join private universities would receive a government sponsorship depending on the course they are pursuing.
A funding board would be established to determine the average cost for each degree programme being offered by all universities.
Under the new arrangement, private universities will give the selection body a list of the courses they are willing to include in the scheme and the number of slots available.
School leavers will be presented with the collated list from all chartered universities in Kenya to choose their preferred course and university.
The shift is expected to be a big win for private universities and colleges who have for years complained that JAB denied them the opportunity to admit top students to their institutions.
This comes in a period that has seen a sharp rise in enrolment of students in public universities with a three-fold growth from 62, 677 learners to 194, 528 last year.
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