Enrollment at the University of Nairobi, Moi University and Kenyatta University has gradually shrunk in the current financial year despite the number of female students across tertiary institutions soaring to a five-year high, according to data from the Economic Survey 2023.
The cash-strapped universities have been promoting PhD and Masters programmes in a bid to grow their revenues in the wake of a sharp drop in the number of students pursuing parallel degree courses after the State stopped funding the programmes.
Student enrolment at the University of Nairobi for undergraduate and postgraduate courses has dropped by 24 percent from 47,693 to 36,251 students in the 2021/2022 financial year which is the largest percentage drop recorded at the school.
Moi University, comes second where its numbers plunged 22 percent to 20,919 students in the same period.
Kenyatta University had its enrolment cut by 3 percent to 67,905 students amid increasing competition from private and new public universities.
The sudden change in enrolment can be attributed to an increase in the number of public universities, most of which are located outside cities, which over the time offers students convenient spaces.
“The number of public universities increased to 35 following the awarding of charters to Kaimosi Friends University, Tom Mboya and Tharaka Nithi University,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in a survey.
Increment of fees by the University of Nairobi for self-sponsored first-year undergraduate, government-sponsored students and postgraduate students who joined in September 2021 has gradually discouraged the students from wanting to join the institution.
Nonetheless, enrolment at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Maseno University has risen by nine percent to hit 34,520 and five percent to hit 23,912 students respectively.
By Vostine Ratemo
Get more stories from our website: Education News
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
