Where are they? 686,000 KCSE candidates left out of university placement

Moi Girls School Nairobi Form Four candidates during KCSE exams. [File, Standard]

Confusion has hit this year's university and college placement after nearly 700,000 candidates who sat the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination were left without a confirmed course for admission exercise.

More shocking is that some 51,000 students who sat last year’s national examinations did not select any course in university or middle level colleges.

Another 3,000 students declined to be placed by Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) in available slots, after they missed out on their first choices. These are the shocking realities of secondary school students who scored university entry grade of C+ and above but shunned placement in institutions of higher learning.

Overall, figures released on Wednesday by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) show that out of the 980,535 candidates who received their KCSE results, only 293,869 have secured placement to university, colleges and technical institutions.

The placement results show that degree programmes accounted for the largest share of admissions this year, with 202,133 secured university degree slots.

This means only 91,736 were admitted to diploma and certificate programmes in TVET institutions.

The remaining 686,666 candidates have not been placed through the national admission system, triggering uncertainty over where they will pursue further education and exposing a fundamental shift in how Kenya is admitting students into tertiary institutions.

The Standard has established that the government has quietly dismantled the traditional centralized placement system for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, effectively pushing admissions back to individual colleges.

This means that instead of securing places through KUCCPS, thousands of students seeking technical and vocational training will now be required to identify institutions of their choice, walk in, apply directly. The change has effectively reduced KUCCPS' role in TVET admissions.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba defended the new arrangement, noting it was adopted following the rollout of modularised TVET curricula. Under the modularised curricula, training is broken into short competency-based units that can be completed within three to six months.

"This has resulted in shorter durations for skilling designed to give trainees market-specific skills. Consequently, many trainees now walk into the nearest institutions for focused modules, after which they graduate," Ogamba said while releasing the placement results in Nairobi.

But while the government argues that the walk-in model offers greater flexibility, stakeholders warn the decision could weaken transparency and accountability.

Unlike the centralized KUCCPS system, which automatically allocates students to institutions based on merit and available capacity, the walk-in model hands individual colleges direct control over admissions.

That raises fears that desperate applicants could become vulnerable to bribes while seeking admission. Similarly, it remains unclear as to whether students walking into the institutions for admission will will automatically qualify for government scholarships and loans.

The Standard has also established that institutions will now submit admission records to the State Department for TVET every quarter, after which the information will be forwarded to KUCCPS for documentation. In the results released yesterday, the placement results show that 202,133 candidates secured places in degree programmes. KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer Mercy Wahome said about 17,000 of them will join private universities, leaving roughly 185,000 to enrol in public universities. However, this means that some 125,024 slots in public and private universities will remain empty after the Commission for University Education approved a total of 327,157 vacancies in 43 public and 33 private universities for the 2026/2027 Placement Cycle.

Another 28,246 university-qualified candidates opted to pursue courses at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), while 500 were placed at the Kenya School of Law for the Diploma in Law (Paralegal Studies), 765 at Kenya Utalii College and 875 in secondary teacher training colleges.

A further 8,915 candidates who attained the minimum university entry grade voluntarily chose diploma and certificate programmes instead of degree courses and have also been successfully placed.

 At the same time, the Ministry of Education disclosed that more than 51,000 candidates who qualified for university admission did not apply for placement at all.

The ministry attributed the decision to students pursuing alternative pathways, including recruitment into disciplined forces, overseas studies and self-sponsored programmes in universities and colleges.

However, questions have also emerged whether possible financial constraints and uncertainty surrounding higher education funding are increasingly locking qualified students out of the university system.

And now, the government has directed KUCCPS to reopen the placement portal and develop a mechanism for late applications for the first time.

"I call upon all eligible candidates who may have missed the just concluded application cycle to take advantage of this opportunity. Our clarion call is that no student should be left behind," Ogamba said.

The ministry has also extended the university inter-institution transfer window from the traditional two weeks to one month to allow more students to change institutions after placement.