From grades to skills: University admissions under CBE

At a stakeholders’ meeting held in Naivasha, the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) stated that the current admission model will undergo a complete paradigm shift, moving away from a strict reliance on grades and academic excellence toward skills, competencies, and recognition of prior learning.

With just four years to go before the first cohort of CBE learners transitions to university in 2029, sector leaders are scrambling to determine how learners will be admitted under the new model.

The Chief Executive Officer of KUCCPS, Dr. Agnes Mercy Wahome, said the current admission model will not remain unchanged.

“It is work in progress, but definitely the criteria for university admission will change to reflect the new curriculum. We are moving from grades to skills. We expect students who are better prepared, with a deeper understanding, and especially with critical thinking abilities,” she said.

Under the current system, university entry is largely determined by KCSE mean grades and cluster subject requirements. But under CBE, the model will change to replace traditional grades with competency-based indicators.

The CEO of the Commission for University Education (CUE), Prof. Mike Kuria, said that although certification will still exist, the benchmarks used to define university qualifications may differ.

“What CBE is doing is not eliminating the idea that you will be certified as having acquired skills in a certain area; it is that the nomenclature may change. So you don't necessarily say a C+ is the minimum admission criterion,” he said. He added that whatever assessment framework is adopted will depend on guidance from the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), which is expected to define equivalencies under the new curriculum structure.

One of the biggest unanswered questions is how competencies will be measured and verified for placement. Dr. Wahome noted that KUCCPS is still awaiting clarity from KNEC on how skills-based performance will remain competitive both nationally and globally, especially for highly regulated programs such as medicine, which currently require specific grade thresholds.

“We are still waiting for guidance from KNEC on what will be equivalent if the medical board says that one has to have a B. In a skills-based curriculum, we need to know what constitutes a B,” she explained. The transition will therefore require a nationally standardised assessment framework to ensure fairness and consistency across institutions.

CBE is also expected to introduce greater flexibility into university admission. According to Prof. Kuria, the new system will provide multiple entry and exit pathways, allowing students to move more seamlessly between Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and universities.

“The admission process should be formal. Yes, we are allowing flexibility that can be recognised both locally and internationally,” he said. Central to this flexibility is the recognition of prior learning and the possible use of portfolios to document competencies acquired outside traditional classroom settings.

“In the current system, learning that anyone has done should be recognised, and that’s why this idea of portfolios comes in. Recognition of prior learning is also important. It needs to be acknowledged so that it can contribute to your qualifications for admission,” Prof. Kuria added.

The revision of university curricula, he said, will include structured mechanisms for admitting students who have acquired skills in other institutions.

KUCCPS is also pushing for the recognition of subjects that have traditionally carried little weight in university admission. Dr. Wahome cited technical and applied subjects such as wood technology and electrical engineering, which currently do not significantly influence university placement decisions.

“As we prepare for 2029, these subjects have to count if we are talking about a competency-based approach,” she said.

This shift could alter long-held perceptions about which subjects are considered academically valuable and potentially elevate technical pathways within the higher education ecosystem.

However, as portfolios and project-based assessments gain prominence, stakeholders are raising concerns about equity. Drawing from recent incidents in the Grade 10 transition, where learners from well-resourced schools performed significantly better than their peers from rural or marginalized schools, education stakeholders have called for intentional measures to ensure learners from disadvantaged backgrounds are not disenfranchised.