Over 45,000 More Students? Public Universities Stare at a Grim, Bleak Future

The 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results were released on January 9, 2025. But something quite shocking unfolded; the number of students who attained the C+ cut-off to join university went up from 201,133 in 2023 to 246,391. Simple math points to an increase of 45,258 students.

Why is this shocking? See, Kenya's recent state of public universities has not been pleasing. Looking at the concluded 2024 September-December semester, these institutions grappled with disagreements between dons and their employer –the government. The lecturers raised issues of delayed pay, dishonoured Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA), and better working conditions, among others.

In September 2024, the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) downed their tools, paralysing all learning activities in public universities across the country. Earlier, in August 2024, Moi University dons had already set the pace for the industrial action. Ask any first-year students from Moi University what time it took for them to enter a lecture hall and learn.

UASU Secretary General Dr Constatine Wasonga hit the headlines as he showcased raw sentiments, demanding the government’s intervention –in the fabric of settled arrears and a 7-10% salary increment. This occasioned a second nationwide strike, causing disarray in the 2024 academic calendar.

Further, the university funding model is likely to experience a muddle as the increased number of university qualifiers poses a significant challenge for the government since its financial burden is projected to increase. This is bound to the fact that it currently seeks a more workable model.

Here we are, over 246,000 students to admit into higher education. Questions linger: are these once-glorified academic hubs capable of accommodating more students? Is the future of these students still secured? Is it good or bad that more students qualified for university?