Students' Admission Policies For Quality Assurance: Towards Quality Education In Kenyan Universities

Abstract

The demand for university education in Kenya has significantly increased. Many secondary school graduates and the working class look for opportunities to pursue university education. There are also students from other countries who would like to study in Kenya. This diversity of sources of university student population has posed challenge to student admission policies. The study focused on effectiveness of student admission policies in public and private universities in Kenya. Data was collected from a sample of 502 university students using a structured questionnaire. It was found that public universities did not have the necessary national and ethnic diversity of students; however, majority of students were studying courses of their preferences. Faith based private universities considered religious faith of students before accepting or rejecting applications for admission. It was found that public universities admitted students of higher grades than private universities. It was recommended that the government formulates policies regulating student admissions to guarantee transferability of student grades across universities, acceptable diversity of students and exemption rules for admission in public and private universities.