The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) data show that the 68 public and private institutions admitted 122,831 students against available space for 145,129.
This leaves Kenyan universities with 22,298 unfilled places after candidates who sat the national entrance exams last year were selected for degree courses.
However, this is a significant improvement from the previous year when the institutions were left with over 50,000 unfilled places.
Admission to public universities of nearly all students who scored C+ and above over the past four years has reduced the pool of learners available in private universities and parallel degree programmes in public universities.
For instance, of the 689,007 candidates who sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination in 2019, 125,463 scored C+ (The minimum entry grade to university) and above.
The admissions data shows several private institutions including Riara University, Daystar University, Kabarak University and KCA enrolled students to all available slots. The Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) leads in the number of students selected at 6,006.
The Technical University of Kenya is the only public university that filled 100 percent of its slots. The institution got 1,667 students against a declared capacity of 1,662.
Brian Wafula
