Enrol students who meet varsity entry requirements

Private universities should be encouraged to enrol students who have qualified for placement in public colleges but are unable to get places because the slots that are available in government run-tertiary institutions are inadequate.

It has emerged that only 74,000 students will be admitted to public universities out of the 525,802 who sat last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education (KSCE) examinations.

The Ministry of Education says that at least 165,766 students attained the minimum entry mark of C+ and, therefore, qualify to enrol for degree programmes at public universities.

This development puts the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service in a quandary, because not just is it unable to enrol students who qualify for degree programmes, it is emerging that most students will have to register for courses they do not particularly want to study.

If the Government could transfer the students who have failed to get placements in public universities and pay their fees in private colleges, hen the matter would be easily resolved. However, because most private universities charge higher tuition and service fees than public universities, the Government may find itself unable to sponsor all these students.

Private and public universities must therefore consult and find a feasible way in which these students who have been left out can be enrolled.