NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 21 – The Universities Fund has secured ISO 9001:2015 recertification from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), a milestone officials say is critical as the institution scales up its mandate to finance higher education amid surging student numbers.
Acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Edwin Wanyonyi described the recertification as more than an administrative achievement, calling it a reaffirmation of the Fund’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement in the management of university financing.
“ISO certification is fundamentally about trust,” Wanyonyi said. He noted that students must be assured their applications and funding are handled through transparent and reliable systems, while universities require predictable and accountable funding processes.
The Fund administers government scholarships under the Student-Centred Funding Model, where financial need is a key determinant for eligible students placed in public universities.
Wanyonyi highlighted the growing pressure on the Fund’s systems driven by a sharp rise in university-qualifying candidates. Data from the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination shows 270,715 candidates attained the minimum university entry grade of C+ and above, up from 246,391 in 2024. This compares with 62,581 eligible students in 2017, underscoring the exponential growth in demand for higher education financing.
Beneficiary numbers have risen in step. The Fund reached 408,879 public university students through scholarships over the three financial years to 2025/2026. Beneficiaries increased from 118,153 in 2023/2024 to 253,042 in 2024/2025 and 408,879 in 2025/2026. For the 2026/2027 financial year, the Fund projects approximately 608,879 scholarship beneficiaries.
Between the 2023/2024 and 2025/2026 financial years, the government disbursed about KSh47.9 billion in scholarships to public university students. A further KSh30.1 billion has been allocated for 2026/2027, bringing the cumulative amount to about KSh78 billion. The Fund disbursed the first tranche of KSh2.5 billion to universities at the beginning of August.
Under the Differentiated Unit Cost framework, the Fund has disbursed approximately KSh19.96 billion to private universities between 2016/2017 and 2025/2026, with an additional KSh974 million disbursed in the current financial year as of August 21.
To manage the expanding operational load, the Fund has adopted digital systems. In October 2025, it launched an Institutional Portal and an Online Donation Portal. The Institutional Portal provides a central platform for information exchange between universities and the Fund, enabling real-time tracking of disbursements and allocations while speeding up student data verification and processing.
For the 2026/2027 academic year, 202,133 students placed in public universities by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) were invited to apply for government scholarships through the Higher Education Financing Portal. As of August 20, 2026, the 2025 cohort had recorded 159,551 completed applications — comprising 149,761 scholarship-and-loan combination applications, 642 scholarship-only applications, and 9,148 loan-only applications. Another 5,732 applications remained incomplete, with the Fund urging affected students to finalize the process by August 31.
Universities Fund Board Chairperson Prof Karuti Kanyinga said the recertification demonstrated the institution’s ability to maintain and improve its quality management systems despite operating with a lean workforce. He emphasized that the Fund’s effectiveness would ultimately be judged by the timeliness of its services, accuracy of information, and responsiveness to stakeholders.
“The true test of this recertification will be whether we strengthen public confidence in the Fund at a time when fiscal space is reducing,” Kanyinga said. He urged that quality management become embedded in the institution’s culture rather than confined to a specific department.
KEBS Managing Director Esther Ngari congratulated the Fund, stating the recertification confirmed the institution had sustained and improved its quality management practices since initial certification. She said the achievement reflected a culture of professionalism, teamwork, discipline, and commitment to service.
Ngari described the Universities Fund as a critical institution in Kenya’s higher education sector due to its role in providing equitable, transparent, and sustainable financing. She noted its mandate directly affects students, universities, policymakers, and other stakeholders, while its financing role underpins human capital development, research, innovation, and knowledge creation.
Ngari challenged the Fund to build on the ISO 9001:2015 certification by pursuing additional international standards, particularly ISO/IEC 27001 for information security management. She said such a system would strengthen cybersecurity, safeguard confidential data, enhance compliance with data protection requirements, and improve resilience against cyber threats — especially as the Fund increasingly relies on digital platforms handling sensitive student, financial, and university data.
“Certification is not the end of the journey. Rather, it is confirmation that the journey of excellence continues,” Ngari said. She urged the Fund to use its quality management system to strengthen governance, improve efficiency, manage risks, and drive innovation.
The KEBS chief expressed confidence that the Fund’s leadership and staff had demonstrated the commitment needed to sustain standards, positioning the institution to play a greater role in transforming higher education financing in Kenya.
The recertification comes as the government continues to grapple with rising demand for university education and pressure on public finances, placing greater emphasis on efficient and transparent management of resources allocated to higher education.