Universities have been allocated fewer degree admission slots this year as compared to the previous academic years, a report by Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) indicates.
This is as the Ministry of Education seeks to ensure that the institutions are allocated slots matching their capacity to equip the students with the needed skills.
The six universities that have been given the largest numbers of students in this year's placement include Kisii and Maseno which are first and second in that order.
Despite having the capacity to admit 6,680 and 6,765 respectively, the two universities have only been allocated 2,722 and 4,673 students respectively.
Third and fourth are Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT) and University of Nairobi, with a capacity of 6,326 and 6,227 students in that order.
However, they have only been allocated 5,901 and 5,432 of the 125, 746 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) graduands who scored an upward of C+.
Kenyatta University has only been allocated 5,289 despite having a capacity of 5,638 while Moi University will admit only 4,505 though it can accommodate 4,968 students.
Mt Kenya University would get the highest allocation among private universities (4, 845) and Kabarak University at 2,765.
While announcing 2019 KCSE candidates results last week, Education CS George Magoha lauded the candidates, noting that some managed to come from very low marks in their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams.
“Our analysis of how individual candidates who scored as little as 177 ended up scoring top grades in the KCSE is one story of extreme hope and encouragement, especially coming in the face of the new Government policy of allowing all KCPE candidates to join Form One," he said.