The implications of university admission policies on females’ access to higher education: a case study of Moi University

Abstract

The issue of females’ under-representation in enrolment in higher education over the years has elicited concern from many quarters and many countries have put in place measures to address the issue. In Kenya, admission to public universities is handled by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) and previously by the Joint Admissions Board (JAB).The purpose of this study was to assess the implications of the university admission policies on females’ access to higher education, using Moi University as a case study. The study was guided by the following specific objectives; to examine specific university admission policies put in place by the admissions body, to establish the level at which the university entry cut off point was set between1993 and 2010, to establish the extent to which females have been represented in the admissions to Moi University, and also to establish undergraduate students’ perceptions of affirmative actions aimed at enhancing females access to university education. The study adopted a mixed method survey design, as it used both quantitative and qualitative data. This study was based on John Rawl’s theory of justice as fairness. The study’s target population was the undergraduate students registered in the 2007/2008 academic year and the officers in the university admission’s secretariat and those in Moi University’s admissions’ registry. The sample comprised 467 students being 5.9% of the 7,924 undergraduate students the study employed proportionate stratified random sampling technique and purposive sampling techniques. Qualitative data was collected using the questionnaire technique and Focused Group Discussions while quantitative data was generated through document analysis. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques such as frequencies, percentages, the range and standard deviation, and The Pearson’s Product moment correlation was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships. Qualitative data was categorized and organized into themes and narratives. According to the findings of the study, there was a general admissions criterion each year and there were also those targeting different categories of students such as females and this entailed lowering the cut-off point. The gender affirmative action criteria of admission was effected variously over the years under study with the lowest cut off point for females being 61 points in the years2000/2001,2008/2009 and 2009/2010 and the highest at 68 points in the years 1996/1997 to 1999/2000.In the period under study, the females cut off point was lower than that of males by between 1-3 points with the year 2005/2006 reflecting the highest range (3points) as the cut-off point for females was 64 points against that of males at 67 points .Females representation in admissions varied from year to year with the highest representation at 43.97 % in the year 2009/2010 and the lowest being 30.59% in the year 1993/94.The respondents were to some extent in support of the affirmative gender criterion of admissions with 68.1% of the respondents indicating support for lowering the cut off points for females. On respondents’ perceptions on measures aimed at enhancing females’ access to higher education, at - 0.837 confidence level, there was no relationship between gender of the respondent and perceptions on lowering of university entry points for females while Sixty-three-point four (63.4) percent of the respondents indicated that it would be inappropriate to reserve quotas for females in university admissions. The study concluded that in spite of the affirmative actions, the female gender continued to be disadvantaged in terms of enrolment. The study recommended a re-examination of the measures put in place to enhance females’ access to university education. The study is significant in that its findings are useful in informing further policy decisions on enhancing females’ access to higher education.