A private university has responded to the call by Ministry of Education to absorb more middle-level students and promote research in higher education.
With the number of students scoring the minimum university entry grade of C+ diminishing, a growing need is created to take in the remaining lot left out by university admission.
Of the 606,394 students who sat KCSE last year, only 62,851 attained the minimum university entry requirement of C+.
Some 100,906 students scored C plain and C– in last year’s examinations and are eligible for diploma courses.
However, only 26,866 students applied to join diploma institutions against an available capacity of 54,927 across the 71 institutions.
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Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed said a total of 500,000 students who sat last year’s exams must be admitted to diploma and certificate courses.
The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) last week opened its portal for diploma and certificate applications.
The authority is targeting students who did not make it to universities and wish to be admitted to national polytechnics and technical training institutes (TTIs).
Healthcare training
However, in her rallying call, Amina invited more institutions to take part in shaping middle-level training and secure a future for the huge number of students.
“I urge more of you to join in supporting access to tertiary education,” Amina said last month.
Mount Kenya University, through the MKU Foundation has now commissioned its middle-level training college to specifically focus on healthcare training.
The Equip Africa College of Medical and Health Sciences based in Kitale was established by assembling facilities and training equipment used by the defunct Thika Institute of Technology.
With a capacity of 5,000 students, the college management says the institution will offer certificate and diploma programmes to bridge the existing gap of trained health professionals.
“We focus on hands on training and research. We seek to be as practical as possible to empower students once they graduate,” said John Ngoshi, the MKU Foundation director.
The college opened its doors to the first batch of diploma and certificate students in January 2018.
Mr Ngoshi said the college, accredited by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA) already has its programmes approved by relevant regulatory bodies.
“We are partners with the government in training and we strive to make available more training opportunities for Kenyans,” he said.
He said Equip Africa College has invested in competency-based curriculum for effective teaching and learning and fully equipped its laboratories.
“The college used the expertise of highly skilled practising professionals, academics, regulatory bodies and TVET Curriculum Development Assessment and Certification Council (TVET CDAC) to craft competence-based curriculum for each of the courses on offer,” said Ngoshi.
Expanded capacity
With the development, students are guaranteed ‘real-life’ skills to practice effectively in their specialty areas.
“We are driven by the desire to develop health-care professionals with requisite knowledge, skills and attitude necessary for outstanding service delivery in health care,” he said.
The college has partnered with health facilities, among them Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kitale County Referral Hospital and Kakamega County Hospital.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Principal Secretary Kevit Desai said the ministry plans to expand capacity to 3.1 million up from the current 180,000.
