Gov't extends KUCCPS application review after 57,000 students miss university slots

The Ministry of Education has therefore extended the application review period to allow affected candidates to reapply for available courses.

This comes as more than 200,000 students secured placement in universities, colleges and other tertiary institutions.

The 2025 KCSE examination cycle has now come full circle with the release of placement results to universities and other tertiary institutions.

Out of the nearly one million candidates who sat the KCSE examination last year, 268,729 attained the minimum grade for university admission. However, only 202,133 secured placement in degree programmes.

This leaves more than 57,000 qualified candidates without university placement, prompting the Ministry of Education to intervene by extending the application review period to allow affected students to apply afresh.

"We can account for 81 per cent of the students who sat KCSE. If you do the maths, you get around 57,000 students. Some of them went straight to Module Two programmes in public universities, some joined private universities, while others are waiting for KMTC placements," said Agnes Wahome, KUCCPS chief executive officer.

"I have directed the KUCCPS to immediately devise a mechanism to allow late applications for placement. In the same vein, I call upon all eligible candidates who may have missed the just concluded application cycle to take advantage of this opportunity. Our clarion call is that no student should be left behind," said Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba.

While the application review window remains open for affected candidates, KUCCPS says education courses attracted the highest number of applicants in this year's placement cycle.

"Education has always attracted the highest number of applicants, particularly education science and education arts courses. We find that about 40 per cent of students want to pursue education," said Wahome.

Medicine-related courses also remained highly competitive, with more than 6,500 applicants competing for just 702 available slots.

"We continue to see many students seeking medical courses. When you compare the available places with the number of applicants, medicine remains one of the most competitive programmes. Performance in science subjects limits the number of students who qualify for these programmes," said Wahome.

The Commission approved more than 327,000 vacancies across 76 public and private universities. In total, KUCCPS placed nearly 294,000 students across the higher education system, including 28,246 at the Kenya Medical Training College, 500 in paralegal studies and 765 at Kenya Utalii College.

KUCCPS says students were placed based on merit, their course preferences, KCSE performance and the available capacity in each institution.