Kenya: University slots exceed qualified KCSE candidates

Africa/Kenya/28-05-2021/Author and Source: www.kbc.co.ke

Candidates who sat the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) will know the universities and colleges they have been selected to by the end of July 2021.

Education CS Prof George Magoha announced that 160,160 slots were up for grabs in public and private universities under the government-sponsored programme and 331,045 spaces in Technical and TVET institutions.

This means that all the 143,140 candidates who scored C+ and above will be absorbed in universities of their choice.

Magoha was speaking at Joseph Kangethe primary school in Nairobi where he launched the university placement process by Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS).

KUCCPS has consequently opened its online portal for application and revision of degrees and college choices for the 2020 KCSE Candidates.

“I am pleased to note that KUCCPS is ready to proceed with university and college placement for the 2020 KCSE candidates. Accordingly, I wish to announce that the Revision of Choices for Placement to Degree, Diploma, Artisan and Craft Courses will commence today, May 24th, 2021” said Magoha.

“Consequently, I have directed KUCCPS to open its system for the 2020 KCSE cohort to review and, if they so wish, make changes to the courses that they selected through their schools. Candidates who were not able to apply in school will use the opportunity to submit their choices” he added.

A total of 893 candidates who sat the exam and whose results were released early this month attained a mean grade of A Plain while 143,140 scored C+.

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 higher education institutions will admit the students in the new academic year beginning September 2021.

“All applicants will know the universities and colleges they have been selected to by the end of July 2021. This will enable our higher education institutions to admit the students in the new academic year beginning September 2021. The students and their parents will also have ample time to prepare adequately” said Magoha as he affirmed government’s commitment to providing an opportunity for every child to pursue a career of their choice.

“I wish to reiterate that all the 143,140 candidates who scored a mean grade of C+ and above will be absorbed by our universities and TVET institutions by choice. Further, the remaining 600,159 are eligible to apply for TVET programmes offered in our National Polytechnics and other Technical Training Institutions” he said.

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

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/university-slots-exceed-qualified-kcse-candidates/