Has university lost its lustre amid higher college intake?

More than 42,000 students who qualified to join the university did not apply.

The number was about 7,000 in 2020. The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) should provide us with the trend over the last 10 years. 

These students will join Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVETs) with medical training colleges as the most sought-after institutions. Can KUCCPS) follow up with these students to find out why they do not want to join the university.

A more holistic picture will emerge when students report to the universities; how many will not report because they have opted to go abroad or work? 

Why are students opting to leave our universities for less prestigious TVETs,  Kenya Medical Training Colleges (KMTCs) and less talked about universities abroad? Noted the number of study abroad agency adverts?

Exceeded demand

Near the mall at Westlands, you can see four from one spot. The number of students requesting for reference from me to apply for universities abroad is another indicator that students want to leave the country. 

First, this was long coming and should not surprise us. Why? Education like any good or service can’t defy the laws of economics.

The supply of graduates, I avoid the words elite has exceeded demand.

That has lowered the price, read salaries and jobs. The market has adjusted. Instead of getting a lower wage with a degree, why not get it without it? 

The number of universities has increased, and so have graduates. Most of these graduates are in social sciences, less marketable than, say, Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM. 

Technology is playing a role in shifting to TVETs. More technology and automation means less demand for jobs. When did you last see men doing “koroga “on a construction site?

Today koroga (mixing) is not about construction sites but cooking! Technology is more available in TVETs as a career. 

Students have seen TVET graduates get jobs not just in Kenya but abroad. A big attraction to students joining KMTC. Technical fields are also “universal “.

Skills like nursing, ICT, carpentry, and bricklaying among others are applicable anywhere on this planet. Not with social science, which is context-sensitive.

You can vie to be an MCA in another country because you have a PhD in political science. No pun intended.

There is another catch in the TVETs. Its graduates can later get a degree. Students joining TVETs may not have abandoned the degree. They may have followed a longer but more economically secure route.

It’s also about the reality. Most Kenyans come from a humble background. A job matters more than prestige.

Many students feel going to university is a risky investment for their parents and themselves. Students feel TVETs give them practical skills, they can do something! University education nourishes emotions not pockets. 

The cost of university education could also be shifting students to TVETs, more affordable and well-funded by the government. TVETs seem to have more market-oriented jobs. Needless to say, students take a shorter time.

This is a paradox; we want cheap university education, but still equate price to quality, from food to cars and clothes. Check the fees for Harvard. 

There are other “small things” that we may overlook. What is the state of our universities, from hostels to lecture theatres and other facilities? How attractive are they to students? Why are investors building student hostels? 

I noted that most American universities guarantee first and second-year university students housing on campus.

Leadership wrangles

How can we admit a student from Turkana or Wajir coming to Nairobi for the first time and expect him to get his own accommodation? 

What reputation do our universities have in terms of completion late, research, and employment rates?

How happy are the students in our universities?

Our universities’ bad publicity from leadership wrangles to the auction of dogs, and the many years students take to graduate, could be keeping many students off.

Going to university is like buying a car, we depend a lot on reputation. 

Did the publicity of questionable universities dishing out degrees to some leaders dent the image of the degree? Add the fact that some very “successful “Kenyans have no degree. Has the degree been overtaken by other status symbols?  

We should not overlook another fact, most students never get their university’s first choice. They join TVETs and KMTCs to study what they want.

Globalisation is a factor too. Our students can benchmark with top-notch universities. Do they keep off universities if they do not measure to their standards?

Between, why don’t students from international schools attend our local universities?

Maybe Kenya’s higher education is joining the global trends where the market works. Students and their parents have better information on careers and job markets and are adjusting accordingly. 

How are private universities fairing despite students not being willing to apply to the universities?

Are 42,000 failing to apply to public universities or all universities? Did you fail to apply to the university? Talk to us.