NAIROBI,Kenya Aug 21 – The Universities Fund has received ISO 9001:2015 recertification from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), with officials saying the quality management standards will be critical as the institution expands its role in financing higher education.Universities Fund Acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Edwin Wanyonyi said the recertification was more than an administrative achievement, describing it as a reaffirmation of the Fund’s commitment to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement in the management of university financing.Wanyonyi said the certification provides assurance to students, universities, the Government, taxpayers and development partners that the Fund has systems capable of managing its growing responsibilities.“ISO certification is fundamentally about trust,” Wanyonyi said, noting that students must be assured that 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, with financial need serving as a key factor in determining scholarship support for eligible students placed in public universities.Wanyonyi said the growing number of students qualifying for university education had increased the pressure on the Fund to maintain efficient systems.He noted that 270,715 candidates attained the minimum university entry grade of C+ and above in the 2025 KCSE examination, up from 246,391 in 2024.This compares with 62,581 students who were eligible to join universities in 2017, highlighting the sharp increase in demand for higher education financing.The Fund reached 408,879 public university students through scholarships over the three financial years to 2025/2026, with the number of beneficiaries rising 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 about 608,879 scholarship beneficiaries.Wanyonyi said the Government had disbursed about KSh47.9 billion in scholarships to public university students between the 2023/2024 and 2025/2026 financial years.A further KSh30.1 billion has been allocated for Government scholarships in 2026/2027, bringing the cumulative amount to about KSh78 billion. The Fund disbursed the first KSh2.5 billion allocation to universities at the beginning of August.The Fund has also disbursed approximately KSh19.96 billion to private universities under the Differentiated Unit Cost framework between 2016/2017 and 2025/2026. A further KSh974 million had been disbursed in the current financial year by August 21.Wanyonyi said the growing financial and operational responsibilities made quality management systems increasingly important.The Fund has also turned to digital systems to improve the administration of student financing.In October 2025, it launched an Institutional Portal and an Online Donation Portal. The Institutional Portal provides a central platform for exchanging information between universities and the Fund, while enabling real-time tracking of disbursements and allocations.The system is also intended to speed up student data verification and processing.Wanyonyi said 202,133 students placed in public universities for the 2026/2027 academic year 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 were still incomplete, with the Fund urging affected students to complete 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.Kanyinga said the Fund’s effectiveness would ultimately be judged by the timeliness of its services, accuracy of information and responsiveness to students, universities and other 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 said quality management should become part of the institution’s culture rather than being confined to a particular department.KEBS Managing Director Esther Ngari congratulated the Fund, saying the recertification demonstrated that the institution had sustained and improved its quality management practices since obtaining its initial certification.Ngari said the achievement reflected a culture of professionalism, teamwork, discipline and commitment to service.She described the Universities Fund as a critical institution in Kenya’s higher education sector because of its role in providing equitable, transparent and sustainable financing for universities.Ngari said the Fund’s mandate directly affects students, universities, policymakers and other stakeholders, while its financing role contributes to human capital development, research, innovation and knowledge creation.She challenged the Fund to build on the ISO 9001:2015 certification by pursuing additional international management standards, particularly those relating to information security.Ngari recommended consideration of ISO/IEC 27001, an information security management standard, as the Fund increasingly relies on digital systems and handles sensitive student, financial and university data.She said such a system would help strengthen cybersecurity, safeguard confidential information, enhance compliance with data protection requirements and improve resilience against cyber threats.Ngari also stressed that ISO certification should not be viewed as the end of the quality journey.“Certification is not the end of the journey. Rather, it is confirmation that the journey of excellence continues,” she said.She urged the Universities Fund to use its quality management system to strengthen governance, improve efficiency, manage risks and drive innovation.The KEBS chief said the Fund’s leadership and staff had demonstrated the commitment needed to sustain the standards, expressing confidence that the institution was positioned 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.