KUCCPS director in charge of placement and career development, John Oluoch, speaking at Nyamache Social Hall in Bobasi constituency.[PHOTO: HANDOUT]Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement
Services (KUCCPS) has asked students who qualify to join universities to apply for degree courses now to avoid the last-minute rush.
According to KUCCPS's director in charge of placement and career development, John Oluoch, with 10 days to the April 30 deadline, about half of the students who qualified to join universities have applied.
Out of the 246,000,
about 130,000 students have applied for placement in universities, but Oluoch
says there is no reason for alarm.
Oluoch, however, noted that the trend was a common thing in Kenya.
“The majority of applicants wait for the last day to make their
choices. However, I encourage the students who scored C+ and above to apply
early to avoid a last-minute rush,” said Oluoch.
Prof Oluoch was speaking at Nyamache in Bobasi Constituency
in Kisii County on Friday during a sensitisation and awareness campaign
organised by the KUCCPS.
He was accompanied by University of Nairobi don Samuel
Siringi and other professionals from Bobasi constituency.
“We cannot say it’s something worrying that most
candidates have not applied for courses with a few days remaining. This is a
usual occurrence, and the most important fact is that those remaining will make
their applications,” Oluoch said.
Also present during the open day were officers from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) who interacted with close to 1,000 candidates who are waiting to join higher
learning institutions.
Oluoch said during the sensitisation campaigns that
KUCCPS has already embarked on grassroots campaigns that will see learners
access all the information about the various aspects of application and
enrollment into different faculties of study.
“It is such important that candidates wishing to join a university are reached with the correct information on what is required of them
and how to successfully land in their career choices. Our teams are all around
the country trying to ensure this objective is achieved,” Oluoch said.
Siringi, who hosted the open day, noted that the huge
number of students who were yet to make applications were those who may end up
choosing the wrong careers because of last last-minute rush to place their applications
on the KUCCPS portal.
“Last-minute rush to register for courses has its disadvantages because students do not get sufficient time to interact with the various courses aligned to their lines of wishes,” Siringi said.
