• In what has become a growing trend, applicants ‘would rather’ pursue a skill-based diploma than a ‘useless’ university degree, in a phenomenon that has become the competition between ‘Marketable and Unmarketable’.

A concerning trend has rocked Kenya’s university placement program with many learners who qualify for university degrees opting for diplomas in Technical and Vocational colleges. The biggest question of what the after-effects of this trend will be, is whether degree inflation will send degree ditchers back to the drawing board.

Degree inflation is a phenomenon in which many employers require university degrees, even for entry-level positions that don’t require them. Kenya’s 8-4-4 system has been pumping out thousands of graduates every year, and many more are replacing their positions in institutions of higher learning.

This year, according to Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), over 85% of KCSE candidates who scored the university entry grade applied for placement. Of those, only 76.2 percent opted for degree courses, with the remaining 11,991 opting for diploma courses.

In what has become a growing trend, applicants ‘would rather’ pursue a skill-based diploma than a ‘useless’ university degree, in a phenomenon that has become the competition between ‘marketable and unmarketable’.

As of 2020, according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the unemployment numbers of fresh university graduates stood at 32.4% with a long time unemployment rate of 7.9%. With statistics showing that Kenyan universities release approximately 50,000 graduates into the job market every year, the title ‘degree holder’ no longer has sway.

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With unemployment statistics at an all-time high as of 2024, and competition for the few available jobs, many entry-level, worsening by the second, degree inflation is bound to happen. Unless an employer is looking for skills, the giant cesspool of applicants is foreordained to dictate entry requirements into the job game.

The question is: When the dust settles, will degree ditchers go back to the drawing board or will it be a little too late?