Universities student numbers surge against staff

Graduands during the Nairobi National Polytechnic graduation on September 18, 2026. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Kenya’s universities are facing mounting pressure to maintain the  quality of teaching and student support as enrolment grows much faster than academic staffing.

This has raised fresh concerns about overcrowded classes, lecturer workloads and the ability of institutions to provide adequate mentorship.

The University Statistics Report 2025 shows that the number of students in universities increased from 628,431 in 2024 to 707,150 in 2025, representing a rise of 78,719 students, or about 12.5 per cent in one year.

Over the three-year period from 2023, enrolment increased by 26.4 per cent.

Over the same period, academic staff increased from 15,383 to 16,434, a gain of 1,051 lecturers, or 6.4 per cent. But the increase has not been evenly distributed across universities.

Public chartered universities, which carry the bulk of Kenya’s university students, actually recorded a decline in academic staff from 10,555 in 2024 to 10,466 in 2025. Their share of the country’s academic workforce consequently fell from 68.62 per cent to 63.69 per cent.

The pressure is most visible in student-to-academic staff ratios.

In public chartered universities, the ratio rose from 44.36 students per academic staff member in 2024 to 51.12 in 2025, a 15.2 per cent increase.

Public university constituent colleges experienced an even sharper deterioration, with the ratio rising from 61.32:1 to 76.77:1.

The report says the figures have direct implications for how universities deliver education.

“Such high ratios” can translate into “oversized lecture cohorts, unsustainable marking and supervision loads, and diminished faculty availability for student mentoring,” the report says.

It adds that excessive teaching and supervision demands can reduce the time available to lecturers for research and professional development.

The strain is particularly significant because first-year enrolment alone increased from 196,161 students in 2024 to 224,165 in 2025, a 14.28 per cent rise.

Enrolment in Years One to Five increased by 77,280 students to 702,684 during the period. The report warns that continued growth without corresponding expansion in academic staffing and facilities risks undermining teaching and learning quality.

Public universities also account for 75.6 per cent of all university students, with enrolment rising from 469,688 to 534,942 in 2025.

The report attributes part of this concentration to the expansion of public university capacity and government financial support, which has encouraged households to favour public institutions.

The staffing picture is further complicated by the decline in non-teaching personnel. Their numbers fell from 21,993 in 2024 to 20,349 in 2025, a reduction of 7.5 per cent, with public chartered universities recording the largest contraction.