Funding students to boost universities enrollment

Out of the 869,782 students who sat their 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam, only 173,027 or 19 per cent scored university entry grade of C+ and above.

Universities Fund (UF) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Geoffrey Monari says the 19 per cent is very low and about 80 per cent of the students are condemned.

‘’For students going to universities mainly, this figure is very low, we are condemning most of our students and if they go, they are taking a longer route which is more costly for them,’’ said Monari.

According to Monari, Kenya's figure is too low compared to other developed countries and in the continent, South Africa sends 40 -50 percent of its students to the university.

Monari called for the need to have a national conversation on that figure and way forward. 

He adds that students produced from Kenyan universities are not only for the Kenyan market citing that Kenyans working in international agencies are few compared to Western Africa.

The CEO noted that Kenya is producing expertise in various fields and that there is a need to produce more, who can be released to the world to share their knowledge and human capital.

Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS)  CEO Dr. Mercy Wahome says that there is need to review some acts that govern the placement board's mandate.

Wahome called upon parliament to support the placement body in reviewing its mandate to enable it to place both locally and internationally.

‘’Our mandate is to co-ordinate government-sponsored - that word government sponsored becomes very limiting. Right now we cannot place students who sat their KCSE exam and are not Kenyans," she explains.

KUCCPS CEO added that there are about 6,800 students who sat their KCSE last year and that KUCCPS cannot place them because they are not Kenyans.

A new funding model has been introduced where  funds will be directly channelled to students unlike previously, where money was sent to the institutions.

Expectations are that universities are now likely to have competitive programs.

Students will be funded according to categories that have been developed by the Government.

The less needy will pay more as compared to those categorized as vulnerable who will get full scholarships and loans.

For the students categorized as needy and less needy their scholarships and loans will depend on their background.

Helb Lending head, Ndegwa King’ori said the agency will use the Means Testing Instrument (MTI) to identify students to be funded in various categories.