The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has announced applications for admission to the Open University of Kenya (OUK) starting August 28.
Kuccps Chief Executive, Mercy Wahome has said the portal is now open to allow for applications to join OUK, which was awarded a charter on August 3, 2023.
According to Kuccps, it will cost Ksh105,000 to study an undergraduate degree course at OUK except for Bachelor of Technology Education, which will cost Ksh115,000 per year for full-time study.
The cost of pursuing a postgraduate diploma programme is Ksh110,000 for one academic year.
“The annual cost for studying a degree programme has taken into account a 15 per cent discount that the Government negotiated with universities under the new higher education funding model,” she explained, in a statement.
At OUK, Kuccps said learners have the flexibility to pay and pursue individual course units at a cost of Ksh10,000 per unit, an option that is applicable to both the bachelor’s degree and postgraduate diploma programmes on offer.
For all the programmes or course units, students outside East Africa will pay 10 per cent more.
Kuccps has also said that the minimum entry requirement for Bachelor’s degree programmes is a mean grade of C+ and above at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) where applicable or its equivalent using criteria that the university senate may determine.
Other requirements include diplomas or professional qualifications from recognized institutions, a KCSE certificate or equivalent and a certificate of foundation or bridging courses from recognized institutions
Also applicable is the Kenya Advanced Certificate of Education with a minimum of 1 principal and subsidiary pass or a bachelor’s degree from an institution recognized by the Senate.
The applicant could also show evidence of a KCSE certificate or equivalent and a portfolio for the purpose of recognition of prior learning determination with respect to workplace training of two years or work experience in a relevant field of two years or two short courses lasting at least three months each in relevant fields or any other qualifications that may be determined by senate recognizing prior learning leading to equivalents of the identified criteria, experience and skills of learners.
“The applications admissible at the KUCCPS portal will be free of charge and without any deadline,” Wahome said.
She explained that applications are free owing to the uniqueness of the Open University’s mode of learning and flexible modular programme design that will allow students to study at their own pace and convenience.
She also added that the Bachelor’s degree applicants are eligible for government scholarships and loans as per the new funding model criteria.
Applicants with KCSE examination qualifications from 1989 to the present can readily apply on the KUCCPS portal.
She said that KUCCPS and OUK will provide a platform for those with international and other non-KCSE qualifications to upload their application documents.
Kuccps said the university is meant to break conventional barriers and provide
opportunities for more Kenyans to access university education in a flexible and convenient manner.
“For the first time in Kenya’s history, work experience, short courses or recognition of prior learning will be considered in admitting learners to pursue degree programmes, according to admission requirements released by the university,” Wahome said.
It is expected to benefit Kenyans who missed early opportunities or faced barriers such as formal grades, age, capacity to pay, gender or geographical location to access university education, through the flexibility of learning that allows students to learn at their own time, pace and place.
The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Elijah Omwenga, has requested the placement body to list five-degree programmes and two postgraduate diploma courses on the student placement application portal.
The minimum admission requirements for the undergraduate courses include evidence of a KCSE certificate or equivalent and a portfolio for recognition of prior learning.
The undergraduate programmes to be offered are Bachelor of Data Science, Bachelor of Science in Cyber Security and Digital Forensics, Bachelor of Technology Education, Bachelor of Business and Entrepreneurship and Bachelor of Economics and Statistics. The postgraduate programmes will include the flagship Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership and Accountability and the Postgraduate Diploma in Learning Design and Technology.
The degree and postgraduate diploma programmes have between 12 and 14 course units per academic year.
Learning will take one year for postgraduate programmes while the bachelor’s degree programmes will take four years to complete.
However, for open and self-paced learning, a student may decide to take a course unit at a time on the alternative flexible mode and may plan to take longer periods. BY K24 NEWS