More than 600,000 students who qualified for placement in institutions of higher learning did not apply for any of the slots available this year.

The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) says only around 153,000 students have been placed in private and public universities, while 11,000 students who qualified for degree courses have opted to study diploma courses.

KUCCPS' release of this year’s placement of students came at the tail end of what started out as a tumultuous exercise in February when the agency run into headwinds as it implemented the new online selection process for students.

When the system challenges had been finished and the three application cycles completed, 258,935 students, out of a possible 895,000 had been placed.

Of these, 153,274 are set to join public and private universities. 75,718 will pursue their education in public and private TVET institutions, while 10,263 will train as either primary or secondary school teachers.

For the first time, the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) also had KUCCPS place students for this year’s calendar with a total of 19,653 students joining this year. Over 600,000 students who qualified did not apply for placement through KUCCPS.  

"Applications to join both universities and colleges is a choice, not mandatory, because we know that there are students who choose to go abroad, join the military or join other programmes that are not under the government programme," said KUCCPS CEO Dr. Agnes Wahome

"The KUCCPS placement system gives special consideration to eligible applicants on account of gender, marginalised and minority and also the aspect of disability," Ministry of Education Secretary Fredrick Nyambare added.

The students placed represent only a fraction of the available capacities in various higher learning institutions. This year, there were 1.07 million places available across universities, TVETs, TTCs, and the KMTC.

In a notable change, KUCCPS has adjusted its placement criteria for the Bachelor of Education program by removing Mathematics and English as mandatory requirements. Consequently, there has been a surge in the number of students opting for this course.

"TSC requires that you just have a C+ and two teaching subjects, and we had added Maths and English in Bachelor of Education arts, and when we removed this we saw a lot of students apply. We have over 30,000 students who have gone to pursue education," said Wahome.

At the same time, KUCCPS says male students continue to dominate placement into degree programmes while female students were the majority of those placed in TVETs.

Students dissatisfied with their placement will have a chance to apply for transfers from June 5, 2024.

Those who have been placed in universities and colleges have been encouraged to apply for funding from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) in good time to enable them be ready for admission later this year.