The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has completed the process of placing students into universities, colleges and TVETs for the the 2020/2021 academic year. Students can now receive their admission results and then admission letters. If you are not satisfied with the universities that they have been placed can apply for inter-institution transfer through the KUCCPS student portal.
For all KUCCPS related news (Admission lists, letters) visit; THE KUCCPS PORTAL
Following the 2019 KCSE examination, the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) provided results for 689,007 Kenyan citizen candidates for placement. An analysis of the results indicated that 125,463 were eligible for placement to degree programmes and 563,544 were eligible for placement to TVET courses at diploma, craft certificate and artisan certificate levels. Four thousand, eight hundred and twenty three (4,823) were registered as non-Kenyan citizens, hence were not eligible for Kenya Government sponsorship.
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The 2020/2021 placement cycle entailed four main activities, namely the, Update and Validation of Institutional and Programme Capacities, School/Centre Application, Revision of Choices and Application Processing.
Update and Validation of Institution/Programme Capacities
The Placement Service enabled the universities and colleges admitting Government-sponsored students to access the placement system through the Institution’s Portal and update the list of the programmes and capacities available for student placement. Thereafter, the Placement Service validated the programmes with the Commission for University Education (CUE) and the TVET Authority (TVETA) – the regulators – to ensure that the programmes and the institutions are duly accredited, and that the numbers provided for admission are within the limits allowed by the regulators.
During the 2020/2021 placement cycle, 145,129 degree and 276,163 TVET programme vacancies were provided for placement.
School/Centre Application
The School/Centre Application marked the beginning of the placement process. The Placement Service invited principals of secondary schools with registered KCSE examination candidates to collect, collate and submit the candidates’ course choices/preferences.
During the School Application, 2,228 of the 10,289 registered schools/examination centres submitted their candidates’ choices/preferences, which translates to 21.65%. The Placement Board is concerned about this low participation of schools at this important step of the placement process.
To address this concern, the Board recommends to the Ministry of Education to consider issuing a policy guideline to all schools, especially those with candidates eligible for placement to TVET institutions, to ensure that they submit the applications on behalf of their KCSE candidates for university and TVET placement.
Following the School/Centre Application and the release of the KCSE results, the revision of choices was conducted in two phases.
The First Revision of Choices
The First Revision, which opened from February to March, was meant to give the students an opportunity to make better informed choices given that they had their KCSE results. Therefore, at that point, they were in a position to consider how their performance compared to the requirements of their desired courses. In addition, having left the school environment and having been exposed to some of the careers of their interest, they could benefit from the exposure in making their career choices.
All the 2019 secondary school graduates were given an opportunity to make changes to their choices from the School Application or to submit their preferences if they had not. Eligible candidates from previous years were also enabled to apply for TVET programmes.
At the same time, the Placement Service rolled out nationwide application support and guidance to applicants by deploying its officers to 34 learning institutions designated as application/revision centres. In addition, applicants were offered support in 11 Huduma Centres that host KUCCPS Service Desks. This was preceded by a public sensitisation campaign through the mainstream print media, online platforms and community radio stations.
Following the processing of applications after the First Revision of Choices, applicants who were unable to secure their choices due to competition in the programmes they preferred were invited for the Second Revision of Choices.
The Second Revision of Choices
The Second Revision of Choices took place in April. During the period, the Placement Service invited the applicants who did not secure a course after the First Revision of Choices, through the mass media, SMS and online platforms, to submit fresh lists of their preferred courses selected from programmes with unfilled capacities.
Despite the prevailing public restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Placement Service successfully presided over this exercise, taking advantage of digital communication technologies to offer support and guidance to the applicants remotely. Applicants who merited at this stage were successfully placed to courses of their choice.Final Placement Application Processing
The final application processing and approvals were undertaken after the conclusion of the Second Revision of Choices. At this stage, the Placement Service ensured that all the eligible 2019 KCSE candidates who qualified for degree and TVET programmes and successfully submitted applications got university and college places on merit. Eligible applicants from previous KCSE years who qualified were also placed to TVET programmes. Affirmative Action was applied for applicants from marginalised regions, persons with disability and gender in accordance with the Placement Policy.
Final Observations
From the just-concluded student placement process, the following observations were made:
- Many secondary schools or KCSE examination centres fail to submit applications for courses on behalf of their candidates, yet this is a critical first step towards the envisaged 100% transition from secondary to higher education. A policy intervention, already alluded to, is necessary to address this.
- Low uptake of TVET courses persists, despite infrastructural expansion and other investment in the institutions. TVET institutions declared 276,163 capacities for diploma, craft certificate and artisan certificate courses and 88,724 applicants were placed, translating to 32% of the capacity.
- Applicants who were unable to get the courses of their choice in the institutions they preferred were placed in similar courses in alternative institutions and in programmes that did not attract at least a reasonable percentage of students. This secured Government sponsorship for 43,817 applicants who would have missed it otherwise.