By Victor Ochieng’
vochieng.90@gmail.com
Kenya Universities and Colleges and Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) is the government urgency that coordinates the placement of all the government sponsored students in public universities plus Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions. By and large, KUCCPS ensures that only those who have attained a certain number of points are given the priority to matriculate into universities under the government sponsorship programme. The government defrays students’ fee through the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB). The loan should be serviced once the students secures a job in future.
KUCCPS convenes a meeting after the release of KCSE results to determine the overall cut-off point that students need in order to qualify for university and college placements. The latest university cut-off point has been a C+ (plus) of 46 points. But the cut-off points to get government sponsorship for diploma courses are lower.
Moreover, in the Career Manual, Godiah Rocky Imbukuleh and Benjamin Nzioka postulate that the cut-off points for most courses per university are based on the Principle of Demand and Supply. If more students apply to join a given university more than the capacity the university can admit for that course, then they raise their cut-off points to only pick those students with higher grades.
That is why universities in high-end cities like Nairobi have relatively higher cut-off points for most of their courses compared to other universities in similar courses. For most students have the propensity to study in Nairobi because of exposure and other advantages associated with the scintillating city life.
In the Discover Your Career Workbook published by Story Moja, Margaret Waithaka and Victoria Wainaina posit that for a student to secure the highly-coveted chance at the university or college for a specific course, KUCCPS looks at three things: One, the mean grade that ushers the student to the institution of higher learning. Two, cluster subjects that gives the student the cluster points, which opens doors to university or college of choice. And three, cut-off points for different universities and courses.
Every university or TVET institution sets the cut-off points one has to achieve in the cluster of four (4) subjects that are considered to be the most relevant for the course. It is imperative for a candidate to be conscious of the specific subjects required for the cluster points. Each subject has a maximum of 12 points. Going by the four subjects, the maximum cluster point is therefore 48 points.
For instance, an artistically talented student aspiring to pursue a career in the sphere of music, the cluster subjects required will be as follows: Music, English or Kiswahili, Mathematics, and any subject in Groups 2, 3, 4 or 5. to arrive at cluster or the subjects that most relevant to your course, they pick only 4. If it is a Bachelor of Science course, they will pick two relevant sciences – Math/Physics and either English or Kiswahili. If it is an art-based course, they will pick a language, a humanity, a technical and Math or any Science.
If a student scores the following grades, and wants to apply for Medicine at the University of Nairobi, this is how they would go about it: English B+, Kiswahili A, Math A –, Chemistry A –, Biology B+, Physics A, Business Studies A and CRE A. For this candidate to apply for a course like Medicine, s/he needs a cluster of Kiswahili, Physics, Biology and Chemistry. English will not be used because this student performed better in Kiswahili. Similarly, Mathematics will not be used because s/he performed better in Physics.
Immediately the KCSE results are announced, KUCPPS opens the online application process portal for two weeks. In that period, students who wish to join public universities or TVETs, need to apply by visiting: htt://students.kuccps.ac.ke. All students need to apply to start the application process is to have a birth certificate not an identity card. Even if a student had previously applied in school, it is important to apply online to ensure the processing of application. It is important to read and understand the application manual on the website in order to get a good guide on how to apply.
When students apply again, it is advisable to seek courses one wants to pursue. When it comes to future jobs, what employers look for is a degree or qualification from any accredited institution. It is important to get the degree or the qualification in a less popular university or college than to insist on a particular place and not get it at all. There are also umpteen opportunities at later stages for inter-institutional transfers, but these are rarer and not guaranteed per se.
KUCCPS sets the last day that all the candidates have to submit their degree, diploma, or certificate courses to be uploaded onto the agency system. Students are also given an opportunity to revise the courses once results are released. Ideally, secondary schools’ teacher-counsellors in the department of career under the patronage of Principals are expected to compile the students’ choices for degree, diploma, certificate, and artisan courses, hence submit them to the placement agency through an online portal.
All schools are therefore supposed to create an account, where principals apply for students’ placement to universities and colleges. Only the principal can submit the schools’ applications, and not individual students. In 2020, out of the 10,437 schools that presented candidates for the 2020 KCSE, only 2,505 helped their students to make course applications. This was a sad state of affairs, which should not have a repeat.
The writer rolls out Career Talks and Training Services in Secondary Schools. He guides Form Two Students on Subject-Selection and Form Fours on Choices of Varsity and College Courses. He builds the Capacity of Teacher-Counsellors in the Career Departments on how to run Effective Career Programmes in School.
