New Rule for Placement of students to university degree programmes through KUCCPS

Placement of students to university degree programmes through KUCCPS will follow a new criteria from the 2026–27 academic year, the placement service has announced.

The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service said the reviewed placement criteria has already received stakeholders’ nod, including regulatory and professional bodies.

“The criteria review process began last year and, following validation by stakeholders and approval by the KUCCPS Board, will be implemented during placement to degree programmes in the 2026/2027 cycle,” KUCCPS said.

The validation was done on March 18 at Kirinyaga University and was graced by Secretary for Higher Education Carol Hunja, who represented the Principal Secretary for Higher Education, Beatrice Inyangala.

Also present were KUCCPS Board chair Cyrus Gituai, CEO Mercy Wahome, TSC chair Jamleck Muturi and Prof Mike Kuria, CEO of the Commission for University Education (CUE), who chairs the Placement Criteria Review Committee.

Vice chancellors and principals of constituent university colleges from both public and private universities were also present during the meeting.

Currently, KUCCPS places students to degree programmes based on merit, using a combination of KCSE performance (minimum C+ grade), subject-specific cluster points and student preferences.

An approved Affirmative Action Criteria—covering gender, persons with disabilities and marginalised regions—is also applied to enhance access to higher education for students who fall into those categories.

Cluster weighted points remain the key metric, computed using a student’s performance in four relevant subjects.

Students are arranged in descending order from the highest to the lowest cluster weight for each course.

The cluster weight of the last student admitted into a degree programme defines the cut-off point for that specific cycle.

Placement is based on the priority choices listed by the student, with preference given to top choices, as well as the capacity declared by the respective universities.

The placement process is competitive, ensuring the best-qualified students are placed first. Slots are filled in descending order of merit until capacity is reached.

The introduction of the new placement criteria reflects the planned scrapping of C+ as the minimum university entry grade to align with the needs of the Competency-Based Education system.

The KUCCPS CEO announced in January that the pass mark was no longer tenable after a large number of 2025 KCSE candidates failed to meet the minimum threshold.

Out of a total of 993,226 candidates who sat the 2025 KCSE examination, only 270,000 attained the minimum university entry requirement of grade C+ and above, translating to approximately 27.18 per cent of all candidates.

This left 722,511 candidates for placement in colleges and TVET institutions.