KUCCPS launches university placement process

The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has this morning launched the university placement process for candidates who will be joining various institutions at the Joseph Kangethe Primary School.

Education CS Prof George Magoha launched the selection process that will see over 140,000 candidates secure a slot in both private and public universities on the government-sponsored programme. Others candidates will be placed in colleges and TVET institutions.

A total of 893 candidates who sat the exam whose results were released early this month attained a mean grade of A Plain while 143,140 scored C+ and above guaranteeing their placement in public universities in the country.

The 2020 exam was the first ever to be conducted under the Covid-19 pandemic that disrupted the school calendar.

However, the students defied the odds to record a sterling performance. An additional 17,393 candidates qualified for admission to university compared to 2019’s 125,747 candidates who attained C+ and above.

The CS said the remaining 604,021 will be able to progress to higher levels including technical and vocational education and teachers and medical training colleges.

747,161 candidates who sat the examination across the 10,565 centres in the country.

The universities  have declared 147,000 places, making available more places than the number of candidates who made the cut for degree slots

Vacancies are spread across 500-degree programmes in public and private universities

A total of 747,161 sat the test, with 143,140 candidates making the cut-off mark of C+ (plus) and above and are eligible for government sponsorship.

In technical colleges, over 100,000 slots have been identified for placement for diploma and certificate courses.

The placement comes at a unique time the sector is facing uncertainty over shutdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Education CS George Magoha asked universities to contact the new students, give them joining instructions and fast-track the start of their academic journey.

This means the students will join the respective institutions in September.

Private universities, like it has been the tradition will admit students under government sponsorship.

In the 2019 KCSE, 125,463 got a mean grade of C+ (plus) and above and were placed to university as government-sponsored students.

University of Nairobi, Jkuat, and Mount Kenya University were the biggest winners in terms of enrolment numbers.

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology took the lion’s share with 6,006 enrolled under the government sponsorship programme.

The University of Nairobi got 5,894 students. UoN also doubled as the institution with the most competitive courses sought after by the top performer.

Last year, private universities admitted the highest number of State-funded students as 17,368 students joined the institutions.

Mount Kenya University was allocated 4,400 students outweighing traditional giants like Egerton.

Kabarak University is second among private universities getting a high enrolment with 2,327 students, Kenya Methodist University 2,268, Catholic University of Eastern Africa 2,091 and KCA University closes the top five list with 2,062 students.

International Leadership University admitted only two students despite declaring a capacity of 150.