University students in a lecture hall. /AI ILLUSTRATION
A sharp rise in the number of Kenyan university students in their fifth year is raising questions about whether more learners are taking longer to complete their degrees.
The number of fifth-year students increased by nearly half between 2024 and 2025, rising from 6,682 to 10,015, according to the Commission for University Education’s (CUE) University Statistics Report 2025.
The 3,333-student increase represented growth of 49.9 per cent — the largest percentage rise recorded across the five years of study captured in the report.
The increase stands out against the broader expansion in university enrolment, which stood at 707,150 in 2025.
First-year students rose by 14.3 per cent, from 196,161 to 224,165, while second-year enrolment grew by 9.1 per cent.
Third-year students increased by 16.2 per cent, from 103,593 to 120,389, while fourth-year enrolment rose by 10.2 per cent, from 160,081 to 176,415.
The fifth-year increase, however, is not another reflection of growing university intake. It points to a larger cohort remaining in the system after the fourth year, although the report did not establish why students remained that long.
CUE cautioned against drawing a single conclusion from the figures, saying the increase in fifth-year students could reflect “growth in long-duration programmes, delayed completion, or improved capture of advanced cohorts”.
That qualification is critical because not all fifth-year students are necessarily delayed. It could be that some students deferred studies over unavoidable circumstances like prolonged sickness or lack of resources.
Some degree programmes also extend beyond four years by design, while others may include students whose academic progression follows a longer prescribed route.
But the scale of the increase has prompted the commission to flag progression and completion as issues requiring closer attention.
Missing marks have often been flagged as a chronic problem affecting a number of Kenyan universities, frequently causing large numbers of students to miss or delay their graduations every year.
“Programme durations and advanced-year cohorts should be closely reviewed to identify delayed completion or structural bottlenecks,” the report says.
Missing marks is a systemic issue across both public and private institutions, often forcing students to delay graduation or retake units for lost grades. Some cases have ended up in court over administrative negligence.
The concern becomes clearer when the fifth-year figures are considered alongside the pressure on teaching capacity, infrastructure and student support services, particularly in large public universities.
That creates a second layer of concern, of universities having to support a growing number of students who remain in the system for longer.
The pressure is significant because academic staffing has not grown at the same pace as enrolment.
University academic staff increased from 15,383 in 2024 to 16,434 in 2025, a 6.4 per cent rise, against the 12.5 per cent growth in total university enrolment.
The mismatch was particularly pronounced in public institutions.
A growing population of students in advanced years could therefore add another demand on lecturers and academic support systems, particularly where students require supervision, repeated units, research projects or other requirements before graduation.
The extended time of completion also carries cost implications for students, institutions and the public.
For students, spending additional years at university can mean prolonged expenditure on fees, accommodation, food, transport and other living costs.
For institutions, students who remain enrolled longer continue to require teaching, examination, supervision, library, laboratory and other services.
The public cost also becomes relevant where universities receive state support tied to student numbers and institutional operations.
However, the report does not establish how many of the 10,015 fifth-year students are delayed graduates, how many are enrolled in programmes normally lasting more than four years, or how many are repeating units.
That number excludes 4,466 students in their sixth and seventh years, who are included in the overall total but excluded from the year-of-study table.
This means the 10,015 fifth-year students are only part of a larger population of learners who have progressed beyond the first four years.
For CUE, the task now is to establish whether the additional students represent the normal growth of longer programmes or a widening completion bottleneck.
That distinction matters. If the increase is largely driven by programme structures, universities may need to plan capacity around longer courses.
If delayed completion is an external factor, institutions may need to identify where students are getting stuck and why.
Either way, the 49.9 per cent jump in fifth-year students has turned what might once have been a marginal part of university enrolment into a trend that warrants closer scrutiny.