The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mercy Wahome on Wednesday, May 3, clarified that the portal would be opened within a week's time for the application of courses for the 2022 KCSE candidates.
Speaking during a press briefing the State House, Wahome noted that the opening of the portal was tied to universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) disclosing information on the cost of their academic programmes.
At the event, President William Ruto directed KUCCPS to publish the information for the placement of students to assist them in selecting their universities of choice.
"Once the universities have given us their costs, which I hope they will do in a week's time, we will be ready to open," Wahome stated after President William Ruto sought clarification.
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.
The president affirmed that the process of placing students in universities and TVETS would not be linked to funding, in line with the new model.
With the new funding model, Universities and TVETS will be required to raise additional resources to enhance the quality of education so as to attract more students.
The president announced four funding streams to ensure the sustainability of universities and TVETS; student-centered funding, research funding, capital infrastructure grants and fee-for-services including consultancy.
"Having developed an elaborate framework on student-centered funding, we shall turn our attention to the other three funding options," Ruto noted.
