Wednesday, November 22, 2023

African countries continue to look up to the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service as they seek to improve their student placement and funding systems.

The latest is the Kingdom of Eswatini, which has sent a delegation to study Kenya’s central student placement service managed by KUCCPS two months after a similar visit by a Malawian delegation.

The members of Eswatini’s Pre-Service Tertiary Education and Training Loans Board visited the KUCCPS offices today, during which they sought to understand the student placement system and draw lessons from KUCCPS’ experience.

In a meeting with the KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer Dr. Agnes Mercy Wahome and other officials, the Eswatini delegation noted the high level of automation of services at the placement body.

“Our main take-home is leveraging technology to improve how we award scholarships,” observed Ms. Sifisosethu Bhembe, the head of the delegation.

Dr. Wahome, who led her team in explaining the KUCCPS mandate and systems to the visitors, also noted that the Placement Service was pursuing expansion of its mandate include placement of international students in Kenyan universities.

She noted that KUCCPS had also picked lessons on career assessment for all students from Eswatini’s experience.

The Eswatini delegation had an opportunity to tour KUCCPS facilities including a modern data centre that supports student the placement services.

The Eswatini delegation is in Kenya to benchmark higher education agencies including the Higher Education Loans Board and the Universities Fund.

On August 24, representatives of Malawi’s Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board also visited KUCCPS on a mission to learn from Kenya’s experience. The organisation was established to disburse loans and grants to needy and deserving students in Malawi.