Timeline for Opening of Portal Provided by KUCCPS
Mercy Wahome, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), stated on May 3 that the site for the application of courses for the 2022 KCSE applicants would open in a week.
Wahome remarked that the opening of the portal was contingent upon universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) divulging information on the cost of their academic programs during a press conference at the State House.
At the event, President William Ruto gave KUCCPS the go-ahead to publish the data for student placement to help them choose their preferred universities.
We will be prepared once the institutions have provided us with their fees, which I expect they will do in a week.
On the other hand, President Ruto explained that KUCCPS delayed opening the portal to give more time for the government to deliberate on the new funding model.
Notably, the Head of State lauded the stakeholders involved in coming up with the new model among them Vice Chancellors and David Ndii, the chairperson of the Presidential Council of Economic Advisers.
“We had postponed this challenge for many years and as a result, our universities and TVETS have suffered a great deal and many of the VCs have grey hair and not because of old age but trying to manage the situations in the institutions.
“We decided that it is time we figured out the model. I am pleased to note that these VCs’ contributions to the model were immense. Our work was very simple because they came with the good ideas that we assembled and got this funding model in place,” Ruto noted.
According to the new paradigm, the president reaffirmed that the selection of students for TVETS and universities was independent of finance.Universities and TVETS will need to raise more money under the new funding model in order to improve education quality and draw in more students.
To preserve the viability of universities and TVETS, the president announced four funding sources: grants for capital infrastructure, fee-for-services, research funds, and fee-for-services, including consulting.
We will now focus on the other three funding choices after creating a complex structure for student-centered funding, according to Ruto