76,000 to miss out on public varsities places
University of Nairobi. Currently, there are 31 universities, 24 of them university colleges. Photo/FILE
More than half of the 118,256 candidates who qualified to join public universities will not be selected due to lack of places.
Only 41,879 of those who sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination last year will be admitted to the institutions, vice-chancellors of the seven public universities announced on Monday.
Through the Joint Admissions Board (JAB) that is in charge of the selections, the vice-chancellors fixed a B plain of 63 points as the cut-off entry mark for the 2011 candidates.
The cut-off point remained at the same grade as those who sat the examination in 2010.
But due to an additional 10 new university colleges, the number of students to be selected is the highest to be picked in a single year in the history of the 8-4-4 system.
Last year, the number admitted was 34,000. Currently, there are 31 universities, 24 of them university colleges.
During a meeting at the University of Nairobi, JAB resolved to admit women at two points less than their male counterparts as part of the traditional affirmative action policy.
This means the women will join the universities with a minimum mean grade of B plain of 61 points.
Candidates with disabilities will be admitted with as many as five points less than the rest of the candidates.
JAB chairman James Tuitoek said students with disabilities would be allowed to choose whatever course they wanted as long as they obtained a mean grade of C+ and above.
“We will maintain this policy (affirmative action),” said Prof Tuitoek, who is the Egerton University vice-chancellor.
The University of Nairobi will have the lion’s share of the new students — 4,677.
Prof Tuitoek said those selected would be admitted to their respective universities between now and October, thanks to an “acceleration” programme initiated by the institutions last year.
“We have moved away from keeping students for two years before they can join their universities,” he said.
Only 76,000 candidates applied for admission to public universities, which means more than a quarter of those who qualified did not seek to be considered, he added.
