Kenya’s Digital Skills Gap: Few University Students Take Computing Courses
KENYA · TECHNOLOGY
Key Facts
- —The country Kenya is East Africa’s largest economy, with 57.5 million people and output of about US$136 billion.
- —What happened Kenya’s university regulator published enrolment data showing few students take computing courses.
- —The numbers Information and computer technology drew 22,401 students in 2025 — about 3 percent of total enrolment.
- —The scale The government wants one million digital workers by 2029, roughly 45 times current ICT enrolment.
- —The catch Graduates wait 11.6 months on average for a first job, while employers report roles they cannot fill.
- —Not just Kenya Brazil’s technology industry counted a shortfall of 106,000 trained people a year — the same pipeline problem.
Computing draws about 3 percent of Kenya’s university students, while the government targets one million digital jobs.
Kenya’s university regulator has published fresh data that puts the Kenya ICT skills gap back at the centre of hiring debates. Few students choose computing courses, while employers say graduates arrive without the practical skills they need.
Kenya is East Africa’s largest economy and its main technology hub. The World Bank puts its population at 57.5 million and output at about US$136 billion in 2025.
It is also a very young country — under-15s are 36 percent of the population. Youth unemployment ran at 15.2 percent on World Bank and ILO estimates for 2025.
What the Kenya ICT skills gap looks like now
The Commission for University Education released its University Statistics Report 2025 this month. It shows total enrolment rose to 707,150 students in 2025, a rise of about 12 percent.
Information and computer technology courses drew 22,401 students. Computer science drew 19,706, while education and arts together drew 132,039.
Set against total enrolment, that is about 3 percent of Kenya’s 707,150 students. Add computer science and the two fields together still reach only about 6 percent.
Education and arts take almost 19 percent of students, business nearly 15 percent. Computing sits well below either.
The shortage is one of mix and readiness, not of overall student numbers. Enrolment across all fields rose about 12 percent this year.
The commission warned that this pattern risks a mismatch between graduate output and labour market needs. It said oversubscribed fields could produce unemployment while critical sectors face shortages.
Engineering enrolled 31,245 students and agriculture 23,245. Business, by contrast, enrolled 103,742.
Female students made up 46 percent of the total, or 325,985 of those enrolled. The number of universities and constituent institutions grew from 79 to 83.
Employers say graduates are not ready
The commission also published a study on how employers view graduates. It found that graduates wait an average of 11.6 months for a first job.
Only 25.3 percent found work within six months. Another 13.3 percent waited more than two years.
Employers in that study pointed to weak communication, problem-solving, digital skills and workplace readiness. Lack of work experience was named as the leading barrier to employment.
The Federation of Kenya Employers found the same pull in its skills needs survey of 521 member firms. Information technology was the top field of demand, named by 28.4 percent of those employers.
That survey, published in 2023, also found one in five firms had vacancies they could not fill. Computer and software engineering led demand within engineering roles.
One employer in the study said a degree alone was not the test. What mattered was whether a graduate could do the work without constant supervision.
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Private training tries to fill the space
Employers and companies are building their own pipelines. Kenya Pipeline Company said this week that 30 percent of its first technology fellowship class had found jobs.
The Inuka Tech Fellowship, run with training provider Power Learn Project, took 30 people from more than 1,000 applicants. Fellows learn Python, machine learning, dashboards, automation tools and data storytelling.
The fellowship ran for six months and shaped its curriculum around what employers said they needed. Graduates are lined up for roles such as data analyst and business intelligence analyst.
Rachel Gathoni, who manages the KPC Foundation, said the gap runs both ways. Employers cannot find the right people, she said, while graduates say there are no openings.
Cybersecurity shows the same pattern. An industry report released in May found employers still struggle to fill security roles.
About 1,500 cybersecurity graduates enter the Kenyan market each year. That report named gaps in cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response and digital forensics.
It said Kenyan firms’ cybersecurity budgets were expected to reach 5 billion shillings (about US$38.6 million) in 2026. Currency conversions here use exchange rates of 24 September 2026.
The network grows faster than the workforce
Kenya’s connectivity keeps expanding. The Communications Authority of Kenya reported on 21 September that mobile subscriptions reached 88 million by the end of June.
Fixed internet subscriptions rose 32.4 percent over the year to 2.84 million. Fibre connections reached 1.57 million.
Private research firm Mordor Intelligence estimates Kenya’s ICT market at US$11.81 billion in 2026. That is an outside estimate rather than an official figure, and other researchers use different numbers.
Infrastructure has moved faster than the supply of people who can build on it. That contrast sits at the heart of the hiring problem.
The ambition behind that build-out is official. President William Ruto said in May 2024 that Kenya wanted one million digital workers within five years.
The target rests on business process outsourcing — call centres and back-office work sold to foreign clients. It is roughly 45 times the number now enrolled in ICT courses.
Why this matters for business in Kenya
For firms hiring in Nairobi, the practical effect is time. A role that looks routine on paper can take months to fill, which delays projects and raises costs.
Companies that plan to expand here should budget for training, not only for salaries. Several employers now design their own courses because they cannot wait for the university system.
Smaller Kenyan firms feel this most sharply. They compete for the same shortlist as large employers, but with less room to pay above the market.
The shortage is not a Kenyan peculiarity. Brasscom, the body for Brazil’s technology firms, found in 2021 that the country trained 53,000 tech people a year.
Average annual demand ran at 159,000, leaving a shortfall of 106,000 people each year. Kenya’s entire ICT enrolment, across all years of study, is a fifth of that annual gap.
That places the Kenyan figure rather than excusing it. A thin pipeline caps what any outsourcing push can realistically deliver, whatever the fibre and mobile numbers say.
What is not known is how large the shortfall is in each role. Kenya has no regular public count of unfilled technology vacancies or of what firms pay to fill them.
It is also unclear how many trained graduates leave for work abroad. No current official figure tracks that outflow.
What to watch next
The commission wants stronger career guidance, more internships and closer ties between universities and industry. Those changes take years to show up in graduate numbers.
Watch the next enrolment figures for any shift toward computing and engineering. Watch too whether employer-led fellowships grow beyond small classes of 30.
Kenya still has one of the deepest technology markets in East Africa and a young workforce. The question now is how quickly training catches up with demand.
More: Kenya news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Kenya ICT skills gap?
The Kenya ICT skills gap is the distance between the technology skills employers need and what graduates bring. Employers report unfilled roles while graduates wait months for work.
How long do Kenyan graduates wait for a first job?
A Commission for University Education study puts the average wait at 11.6 months. Only 25.3 percent find work within six months.
How big is Kenya’s ICT market?
Private research firm Mordor Intelligence estimates it at US$11.81 billion in 2026. That is an outside estimate, not an official government figure.
Sources: Reporting draws on the Commission for University Education, the Federation of Kenya Employers, the Communications Authority of Kenya, the KPC Foundation and Kenyan news outlets. Population, output and youth unemployment figures come from the World Bank. The one million digital workers target comes from the Office of the President of Kenya. Brazilian comparison figures come from Brasscom.
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This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. How we use AI · Report an error