Kenya could face a widening skills gap as universities admit more students into courses with high enrolment while fewer learners take up science, technology, engineering, mathematics and agriculture programmes needed in several parts of the economy.
The Commission for University Education (CUE), in its University Statistics Report 2025, says the growing difference between university training and labour-market requirements could leave the country with large numbers of graduates in some fields while employers struggle to find people with specialised skills.
"This trend risks creating a mismatch between graduate output and labour market needs, potentially leading to graduate unemployment in oversubscribed fields and skills shortages in critical sectors," CUE said in its University Statistics Report 2025.
The report shows that education and arts remained the biggest areas of university enrolment in 2025, with a combined 132,039 students. Business followed with 103,742 students, while education science had 61,369.
Social sciences enrolled 31,818 students and arts 28,856.
In comparison, engineering had 31,245 students, agriculture 23,245, information and computer technology 22,401, computer science 19,706, and mathematics and statistics 18,517.
The figures have raised concern because employers are increasingly seeking workers with specialised professional and technical abilities.
The Kenya Labour Market Information System indicates that professionals make up about half of advertised vacancies, showing that employers are placing strong demand on particular skills and areas of expertise.
The demand is spread across several sectors, including finance, sales, policy and planning, software development and technical services, even as universities continue to attract large numbers of students into education, arts and social sciences.
Findings from a separate Federation of Kenya Employers survey also point to information technology as the career area where employers most frequently reported a need for skills.
Finance and business management came next, followed by engineering and transport, distribution and logistics.
Among engineering disciplines, computer and software engineering made up the largest portion of the skills sought by employers surveyed. Electrical and electronics engineering followed, with mechanical and production engineering also recording notable demand.
The concern is not limited to enrolment. CUE figures also show changes in the number of students completing university studies in different fields.
Of the 124,912 university graduates recorded in 2025, education produced the largest number at 37,817, accounting for 30.3 per cent of all graduates.
Business, administration and management studies followed with 24,194 graduates, representing 19.4 per cent.
Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics recorded the largest proportional fall in graduate numbers. The fields lost 1,922 graduates in 2025, with their share of total graduates dropping from 8.9 per cent to 7.3 per cent.
Engineering recorded a decline of 622 graduates, while agriculture lost 196.
"The graduate pipeline is drifting away from Stem toward service-oriented disciplines; the combined loss of 2,740 graduates across natural sciences, engineering and agriculture represents a compounding erosion of technical capacity, CUE noted.
The commission said the continued shift could take university education further from the skills required to support national development.
CUE is now pushing for stronger career guidance in secondary schools and universities to help students understand opportunities in different fields before choosing their courses.
It is also calling for more internships and closer partnerships between universities and industry so that training can better reflect the needs of employers.
The commission has proposed targeted support, including scholarships and subsidies, to encourage more students to pursue courses that currently attract fewer learners but are considered important to the country.
The warning comes as the number of university students continues to grow. Enrolment increased from 628,431 in 2024 to 707,150 in 2025.
CUE said the rapid growth of the university sector makes it more important to ensure that the courses being offered and the skills graduates acquire are linked to available employment opportunities.