Nairobi — The University of Nairobi started parallel degrees programmes in 1998 when it admitted the first batch of students under the self-sponsored programme (Module II).

The practice caught on in the other public universities to the extent that 12 years later, the government-sponsored (regular) students have been outnumbered by their parallel colleagues.

The government pays 70 per cent of the cost of education for the regular students through loans and other subsidies from the university.

The loans come from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), although the government has now opened up the loans facility to those in the parallel programmes. The students are required to repay the loans after they get jobs.

The regular students are admitted by the Joint admissions Board (JAB) under a stringent criteria that only takes those who have performed well in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education.

Currently the cut-off point for the regular students is a B+. Admission to courses considered lucrative and marketable is based on high cluster point scores.

In the parallel programme, the minimum entry point is a C+ and one can pursue any course as long as he or she can afford the fees and other charges.

After sitting the KCSE exam, a regular student has to wait for about 18 months before joining a public university while those who join the parallel can be admitted after they know their KCSE results which are released in March every year.