Education degree attracts most of KSCE candidates

A majority of 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination candidates who scored the minimum university entry grade of C+ have chosen as their preferred course the Bachelor of Arts in Education, which leads to a career in teaching.

Data from the Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Service (KUCCPS) shows that over 30,000 students applied for the course, linking the upsurge in application to the scrapping of Mathematics and English as minimum entry requirements for the programme.

“For the Bachelor of Education, in both arts and science, stakeholders felt that KUCCPS needed to align with TSC regulations on the minimum entry requirements,” said KUCCPS CEO Agnes Mercy Wahome.

“We [took this step] because TSC requires an applicant to have a mean grade of C+ and in two other teaching subjects.”

She added: “We had added Maths and English in Bachelor of Education Arts. When we removed this, we saw a lot of students applying for that course, numbering over 30,000.”

New grading system

KUCCPS introduced a new degree cluster weight to align with the new KCSE grading system adopted in 2023 that considered only five subjects – three best-scored subjects plus Mathematics and the better-scored language between English and Kiswahili.

Under the new university admission grading system, students are selected based on their performance in Mathematics, best language (English, Kiswahili or Kenya Sign Language), and best five from the remaining subjects. Previously, they were selected based on their performance in English, Mathematics, Kiswahili, the best two sciences (Biology, Chemistry or Physics) and best two from the remaining subjects. Some 201,146 students, or 22.5 percent, scored a mean grade of C+ and above, meeting the minimum requirements for placement in degree programmes.

The remaining 694,086, or 77.5 percent, scored mean grades of between C and E and were eligible for placement in diploma, craft and artisan programmes at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges.

Choices and qualifications

Meanwhile, the cumulative approved student capacity in institutions of higher learning was 1,078,806 – comprising 278,006 in degree programmes; 769,820 in TVETs; 13,808 in teacher training colleges (TTCs); and 17,172 for Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC).

After the 2023 KCSE exam, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) provided performance data for 895,232 candidates to KUCCPS. Some 890,654 were Kenyan citizens who were eligible for placement in tertiary institutions.

Placements decisions consider the applicant’s choices and qualifications, as well as available capacity.

With the approval of higher education and training regulators – the Commission for University Education and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority – KUCCPS provided courses offered at 70 universities, 35 teacher training colleges, 88 KMTC campuses and 248 public TVET colleges.

Some 258,935 students were placed across all programmes offered for placement in the 2023/24 cycle.

Public universities received the lion’s share, with 134,743 students, followed by TVETs under the Ministry of Education with 63,921

KMTC and private universities got 19,653 and 18,558 students, respectively

For diploma courses in secondary teacher training colleges, 734 students were placed compared with 9,529 in primary teacher training colleges.

University TVETs received 7,834 students, while another 3,963 are heading to other government TVETs that are not under the Ministry of Education.

About 85 percent of 2023 KCSE candidates with C+ and above applied, with 76.2 percent opting for degree courses while the rest (11,991) chose diploma courses.

“We will be opening the system on June 5 to give students an opportunity to make transfers. By July, the whole process will be over so that those students who report in August and September will have a seamless enrolment. By August, all students should have settled in the institutions of their choice,” Wahome said.

The KUCCPS boss added that her agency released placement data to KMTC to enable it to to proceed with the March intake, as it also did for TVET institutions for their May admissions.

Male degree dominance

Meanwhile, data also showed that male applicants continued to dominate placement in degree programmes, continuing a trend that has been observed since the beginning of the central placement system. Female students were the majority of those placed in TVETs, a trend that started in the 2020/2021 cycle.

The placement process gave special consideration to eligible applicants on account of gender, marginalised and minority regions and disability as stipulated in the Affirmative Action Policy, the Ministry of Education said.

“Of the 2023 KCSE candidates, a total of 2,452 students have benefited from placement by affirmative action,” Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu said in a statement read by the ministry’s Administration Secretary, Fredrick Ndambuki.

“Beneficiaries of placement by affirmative action must satisfy minimum subject requirements or the programmes.”

Machogu noted that this was the first time that KUCCPS had placed students in universities, TVETs, KMTC and TTCs in a single process. He directed KUCCPS to immediately inform applicants of their placement results.

The placement service, he added, will also publish total fees details for all programmes offered by the institutions.

Machogu also ordered vice-chancellors and principals to reach out to their prospective students and parents and guardians and inform them about reporting dates and related information.