The Ministry of Education was pushed to address concerns raised by students and parents regarding university placement and fees for various courses.
The National Assembly Education Committee on Tuesday, June 11, questioned officials from the Ministry of Education over the matter, especially on the placement of medical students.
According to the committee, the methodology used for placement especially for medical students was not clear, forcing many students have to forgo their preferred course of study.
However, The Principal Secretary of the State Department for Higher Education and Research, Beatrice Muganda said that students were placed based on merit and choice.
“During the current placement cycle, 14,564 students applied for Medicine which is the most expensive academic program. The approved capacity was 689, and a total of 656 students who qualified were placed based on their first choice,” she explained.
Additionally, she said that 30 more students were placed based on their second choice, 22 based on their third choice, 7 based their fourth choice, and 59 were placed based on affirmative action.
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On the other hand, the MPs raised concerns over the high cost of fees for various universities highlighting inconsistencies in the University Funding Model and poor communication to learners regarding the tuition fees.
However, the PS responded saying that the process of determining Household contribution will begin on June 15, 2024, when the Funding application portal opens, and communication will be made on July 31.
At the same time, the legislators questioned how KUCCPS determined that Kisii University was having the highest capacity for taking in new admissions adding that the institution has 16,000 spaces available for students.
This followed a revelation by PS Muganda that in the 2024/25 placement cycle, Kisii University had the highest applicant pool of 16,464 with only 7,772 securing placements.
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University Fees Structure Recalled by Govt
On June 4, the ministry of Education announced that it would recall all admission letters issued by universities to first year students set to join the 2024 intake.
In addition, the Ezekiel Machogu led ministry explained that that the admission letters were showing the entire payable school fees instead of what each student is expected to pay.
At the same time, the ministry stated that it would address the school fees concern reflected on the admission letters.
This followed uproar from members of the public over fee structures that were sent to students for admission, some reflecting more than Ksh600,000 payable fees per year.
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