Kuccps tells universities to announce new fees before placements are done

KUCCPS has asked all Universities to declare the costs of their academic programmes in compliance with President William Ruto’s directive.

In a letter to all vice-chancellors and principals of university constituent colleges, the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has asked the institutions to provide the information urgently.

“Kindly note that even though KUCCPS will publish all programs, the Government will only provide scholarships to students who select degree programs in public universities,” states the letter dated May 5, 2023 and signed by the KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Agnes Mercy Wahome.

“Therefore, students who will select programs in private universities and TVET programmes offered by universities will not get Government scholarships, and will only be eligible to apply for HELB loan.”

President Ruto issued the directive on May 3, 2023 at State House in Nairobi when he announced a new funding model for universities and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions.

Under the new funding model, students placed in national polytechnics and Ministry of Education’s TVET institutions will also be funded.

“Starting from the 2023/2024 academic year, the process of placing students to universities and TVETs shall not be linked to funding,” the President announced.

“All universities and TVETS should, with immediate effect, disclose and provide information on the cost of their academic programmes to the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service. The Placement Service shall publish this information prior to the placement of students,” he directed.

Responding to a question on when KUCCPS will open its application portal, at the State House briefing, Dr. Wahome indicated that the portal would open within one week after all universities have provided information on the programme costs.

Only the costs disclosed to KUCCPS in line with the President’s directive within the deadline will be published on the KUCCPS portal for applicants to view, according to Dr. Wahome.

Universities are expected to declare costs for the programmes that were validated by the Commission for University Education and should not introduce new programmes at this point, according to KUCCPS.

With the Tuesday deadline for provision of programme costs, KUCCPS expects to open the portal by May 17, 2023.

The placement agency will issue further updates in due course.