Kenya Records More Graduates as Women Close Gap in Private Universities

Kenya’s higher education sector saw a sharp increase in graduation numbers in 2024, with universities awarding degrees to 123,928 graduates, up from 99,829 in 2023, representing a 24 percent increase.

A detailed report by the Commission for University Education (CUE), titled the University Statistics 2024/2025 Report, shows that public chartered universities produced the largest share of graduates at 91,210, while private chartered universities followed with 30,053.

Institutions operating under Letters of Interim Authority contributed 1,529 graduates, while constituent colleges registered smaller outputs: public colleges produced 973 graduates and private colleges 163.

Male Graduates Dominate Graduation in Universities

The gender distribution among graduates shows that men remain the majority, but women are narrowing the gap.

In 2024, 67,289 male graduates represented 54.3 percent of the total, while 56,077 female graduates accounted for 45.3 percent.

562 graduates were classified under other gender categories in the same year.

This marks an improvement from 2023, when women comprised approximately 49,119 graduates, a 14 percent improvement.

The most notable progress occurred in private chartered universities, where women recorded almost equal numbers to male graduates.

Of the 30,053 graduates from these private chartered universities, 14,731 were female, representing 49.02 percent, compared to 15,320 male graduates.

In contrast, public chartered universities reported 39,945 female graduates against 50,710 male graduates, translating to 43.8 percent female representation.

Institutions operating under Letters of Interim Authority recorded 803 female graduates and 725 male graduates, while private constituent colleges graduated 58 women and 101 men.

Graduation trend by Field of Study

Education programs produced the highest number of graduates, with 34,156 individuals, followed by Business, Administration, and Management Studies at 28,005.

Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Statistics accounted for 11,019 graduates, while Computing and Information Communication Technology registered 8,627.

Engineering, Manufacturing, and Production recorded 7,023 graduates, and Health and Welfare fields produced 8,886 graduates.

Law contributed 1,796 graduates, Social and Behavioral Sciences 6,759, and Arts and Humanities 9,068.

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Students registered under “other” totaled 1,186.

Further Imbalance in STEM Subjects

Despite overall gains, disparities persist in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs.

Female representation remains low in Engineering, where only 6,116 women were enrolled in 2024, compared to 23,611 men, resulting in 20.6 percent female participation.

In Computer Science, women accounted for 24 percent, while in Information and Computer Technology, they represented 27.8 percent.

On the other side, women dominate Education Arts, comprising 54.6 percent of enrolment, and maintain a strong presence in Nursing at 54.4 percent and Law at 54.5 percent.

In senior-level academic staffing, 15,383 teaching staff were employed across universities, of whom 9,910 were male and 5,469 were female, translating to 35.6 percent female representation.

At professorial rank, women numbered 93 against 458 men, representing 16.9 percent, while among associate professors, women accounted for 23.3 percent.

Mid-level positions such as Lecturer and Tutorial Fellow showed relatively higher female shares at 36.3 percent and 40.2 percent, respectively.

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Student Discipline in Universities

In 2024, Kenyan universities reported 3,841 disciplinary cases across seven categories.

Examination irregularities dominated with 3,352 cases (87.3%), including cheating and impersonation.

Gross misconduct accounted for 166 cases (4.3%), while breaches of residence and election rules totaled 124 cases (3.2%).

Theft, robbery, fraud, and forgery comprised 105 cases (2.7%), and drug and substance abuse represented 1.8% of incidents.

Gender-based violence was reported in 0.4% of cases, and non-attendance of classes leading to poor performance made up 0.3%.

The CUE report concluded by urging universities to strengthen their integrity policies, counseling services, and security measures to curb these challenges.

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