The Kenya Universities and Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has explained how students will be placed in universities and colleges, saying past placement trends and exam performance will guide the upcoming exercise scheduled to begin in March.
Speaking on NTV on Tuesday, February 2, KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer Agnes Wahome said the placement process will rely heavily on data from previous years, including student performance patterns and how courses were filled across institutions.
She said cut-off points for competitive courses are expected to rise slightly this year due to an increase in the number of candidates who qualified for direct university admission in the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.
According to Wahome, about 270,000 candidates scored a mean grade of C+ and above, compared to 245,000 in 2024 an increase of roughly 25,000 students.
The higher number of qualified applicants is likely to push up competition for limited slots in popular programmes.
She noted that top courses such as medicine at leading universities are expected to see small increases in cut-off points, in some cases by about 0.7 points.
“You will see that this year we had 270,000 students who scored C+ and above, compared to 245,000 last year. This means competition will be higher.
If the last student admitted to the University of Nairobi to pursue medicine scored 45.5 points, then this year it is likely to rise to 45.7 points. That is how the process works,” Wahome said.
She advised students to check the KUCCPS portal and review last year’s placement data, including minimum subject requirements and cut-off points for different courses and institutions.
She said this information helps candidates make realistic choices based on their grades.
At the same time, Wahome cautioned that some students choose courses under pressure from parents, teachers, or guardians, even when those options do not match their interests or career plans.
She said this problem is common among top-performing students, especially those with strong science grades.
“Students with A and A-minus grades in sciences are often discouraged from pursuing the courses they actually want.
Parents and teachers sometimes think they are guiding them, but it can end up limiting their opportunities,” she said.
To reduce uninformed choices, KUCCPS now opens the placement portal after KCSE results are released rather than while students are still in school.
This allows applicants to select courses using their actual results and verified placement data.
The portal provides detailed information from the previous placement cycle, including the lowest grades admitted to each programme and the cut-off points across universities and colleges.
This data is meant to help students make informed and practical course selections.
