Finding gainful and sustainable employment or lucrative income-generating opportunities depends on choosing a marketable course. Any other course other than the most marketable courses in Kenya can lead to unemployment and frustration from poor pay or job insecurity.
With skills in a course always on demand on the job market, a person can look forward to being a productive and committed employee or service provider in a lucrative and enjoyable career.
What to Consider When Choosing the Most Marketable Courses in Kenya
When a person chooses a course and appears to do well in that field of employment after graduation, others believe that it qualifies among the marketable courses in Kenya and opt for it.
Pressure from friends, teachers, and parents, often communicated as well-meaning advice, is another reason that could potentially lead a candidate to choose a course.
Although one should seek informed advice on such a matter, career choice remains a personal choice in one’s destiny.
The following tips can guide you in choosing the best course in Kenya.
- A person’s interests
Students have personal interests sometimes based on how they admire a career and its professionals. They may feel fascinated by the nuances of a career and wish to pursue it.
Students ought to be encouraged to pursue training for careers that arouse passion and intrinsic motivation in them. They can serve with commitment and endure challenges to be top performers there.
- The possibility of employment
Students flock for training in courses that offer greater opportunities for employment and advancement. Which courses have more job opportunities?
They peruse job ads and enquire from friends, relatives, and career experts to find viable courses. Some online sites, KUCCPS, offer insights on the most recent trends in the job market.
- A person’s abilities
Physical and mental aptitudes matter in career choice. Different careers have different demands, and students should carefully analyze their attributes to pick a suitable course.
Some courses, such as medicine and architecture, require excellent academic performance for qualification with demanding training sessions.
Therefore one should be realistic about their abilities to choose the best course.
- Cut-off Points
KUCCPS has a pre-determined system that qualifies students for courses depending on their choices of preferences.
However, the system heavily considers if the students attained the minimum points in KCSE required to qualify for the course of their choice.
When a student fails to meet the cut-off points, they explore alternative courses that might not be their initial area of interest.
- Subject Combinations and Clusters
The Kenyan Education secondary school curriculum allows students to opt out of some subjects and choose others in their preferred learning areas. The subject areas appear as categories called subject clusters.
Based on these clusters, universities and colleges develop a curriculum where students must have taken specific subjects up to the KNEC examination level to qualify for a specific course.
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The Most Marketable Courses Offered in Kenya Today
Surprisingly, the most popular courses may not be among the most marketable courses in Kenya. Unmarketable courses end up as worthless certificates and redundant skills.
Consider the following among your options when choosing the best course for your professional training.
Bachelor of Commerce
Bachelor of Commerce lists among the most marketable business courses in the country. It gives a person an edge on the competitive job market when taken together with related professional courses that give specialized skills and certifications. These professional courses include CPA (Certified Public Accountant), CFA(Chartered Finance Analyst), and CIFA(Certified Investment and Finance Analyst).
KASNEB offers most of those extra short courses that also qualify an individual to gain registration in professional organizations which increases chances of employment.
Middle-level colleges and polytechnics offer these courses. Universities that offer higher cadre training include Strathmore University, Moi and Maseno Universities, University of Nairobi, and Kenyatta University. With such skills, one can work in marketing, insurance, finance, and banking.
Nursing
Professionals in the nursing field remain in high demand in Kenya. Other countries, especially Europe and America, seek nurses from Kenya to work as expatriates.
There are many opportunities in government and private hospitals and home-based care institutions. Anyone qualifying for a nursing course can specialize in peri-operative nursing, family health nursing, geriatric nursing, and pediatric nursing. Additionally, one can study to become a Kenya registered nurse anesthetist, psychiatric nursing, and ophthalmic care nursing.
Nursing attracts handsome salaries and allowances, and one can pursue nursing as a degree. Other than the acclaimed Kenya Medical Training College and its various branches, local universities also offer a nursing degree. These are Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Meru University, Kenyatta University, and Kisii University, among others.
Medicine
The escalating demand for quality medical care in the country means medicine ranks high among the marketable courses in response to that need. The course requires excellent grades in KCSE. It is the minimum qualification to pursue the course in universities accredited to offer the course.
The universities offering medicine include Moi University, the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, Egerton University, and JKUAT.
Some choose to pursue medical courses in universities outside the country. Kenya recognizes and allows doctors trained outside the country to practice in Kenya. At the same time, many Kenyan doctors leave the country for greener pastures.
Some areas of specialization in the medical world include dentistry, physiotherapy, pharmacy, homeopathy, pediatrics, psychiatry, and medical laboratory technology.
Special Needs Education
Bachelor Education courses in Arts and Sciences remain among the most popular courses for candidates for their high employability possibilities. The government hires teachers in various phases every year.
There are numerous private schools and colleges, which increases the need for suitably trained and registered teachers. The special needs education niche offers an advantage in the job market as an extra and rare qualification.
Furthermore, teachers practicing in special needs education institutions receive an extra allowance in their pay. As a result, they tend to earn more than regular teachers.
Moreover, with such qualifications, one can work in other fields unrelated to teaching. Alternatively, one can train to serve differently-abled people with special needs in various institutions.
Some, for instance, get employment as sign language interpreters, and others generate content in braille.
Their clients include children and individuals with hearing and visual impairment, attention deficit disorders, and the physically and mentally challenged.
Kenyatta, Mount Kenya Universities, and the Kenya Institute of Special Education are accredited institutions offering this course.
Computer Science and Information Technology
Since the bursting of the computer age in Kenya, reminiscent of Silicon Valley, computer science and IT have looked like a preserve for geeks and the millennials.
However, the demand for professionals in this field continues to skyrocket with the influx of new technologies, emerging markets, and job trends requiring digital skills.
Many organizations and individuals have digital platforms which require qualified professionals to establish and manage them. That responsibility adds up to managing software and hardware resources.
One can train in packages in short certificate and diploma courses or comprehensive courses up to the postgraduate level. These skills have worldwide demand and offer flexibility where one can be self-employed or work freelance. Moreover, one can get employment in state and private corporations.
Some even work online remotely, making it an attractive, lucrative, and satisfying career.
The options in this field include software engineering, web development, systems analysis, data analysis, UX designing, and cyber security analysis. For those interested in the course, most top public and private universities in Kenya offer it.
Examples include Moi University, Strathmore, USIU-Africa, African Nazarene University, Multimedia University, JKUAT, and Kenyatta University. Polytechnics and Technical training colleges offer training in various computer science and IT aspects at certificate and diploma levels.
Some candidates choose to take training in institutions outside the country on campus. While others take online classes and distance learning programs. These are internationally recognized qualifications.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing, which requires skills in advertising and facilitating trading on online platforms and social media, is another option among the marketable courses in Kenya.
It gives trainees skills in developing and managing digital content and marketing strategies to complete B2B and B2C transactions. A corporation runs successful marketing campaigns through such employees in various ways. They can analyze data on target market dynamics, marketing budgets, and interactive online platforms.
Someone can work in digital marketing, digital graphic management, web design, content creation, and branding. Other emerging aspects of digital marketing are also a possibility. Institutions that offer this course include the African Digital Media Institute, Zetech, Kenyatta and Riara, the University of Nairobi, and JKUAT.
Statistics
Statistics, though listed as one of the most demanding courses in training and practice, it is one of the most marketable courses with great pay. The demand for statisticians remains high due to the low uptake of the course by trainees.
Some universities offering training in it include JKUAT, Maseno, Mount Kenya University, Strathmore University, Kenya Methodist University, and Kenyatta University.
With skills in statistics, someone can work in economics fields, advertising, insurance, and demography, among others.
Civil Engineering
Civil engineering involves planning, developing, and maintaining utilities such as road networks, sewerage systems, conduits, and drainage systems.
Professionals here work as construction engineers, fire risk assessors, geologists, and building services engineers.
Most universities in Kenya offer the course, including the University of Nairobi, Egerton, Moi, Kenyatta, and Maseno Universities.
Program Monitoring and Evaluation
This course teaches trainees hands-on skills in initiating, planning, implementing, managing, and completing projects.
The course offers skills in leadership, project design and initiation, project planning tools, and project management principles. Furthermore, it is a multisectoral course because it equips people with versatile skills applicable in many government and private practice fields.
Trainees can attend the course at universities like Amref International, Riara University, JKUAT, Egerton University, and Moi University.
Journalism
Various media houses dealing in electronic and print content offer a thriving array of options for professionals trained in journalism. People can work as content creators, editors, broadcasters, photographers, and videographers.
The popular fields in the study include multimedia, photojournalism, radio and TV production, and mass communication.
Anyone interested in journalism can join the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication, The East Africa School of Journalism, and Daystar. In additional, you can enrol at Multimedia University, Zetech College Media School, and Mount Kenya University.
Conclusion
It is a waste of time, money, and effort to complete a course that becomes redundant on the job market.
Many become confused with the options as they ponder: which is the best course to study in Kenya? Choosing a marketable course offers the chance for professional advancement through promotion and chances for advanced studies or specialized training. It is the path to a satisfying working life.
Overlooking the need to perform due diligence before picking a course, could lead a person to a prolonged and frustrating search for employment or other relevant income-generating opportunities.
Registering and training with an accredited and reputable institution to acquire the best knowledge and skills to ace interviews and beat the competition in the job market is important. With such, one starts the journey of a productive life in a lucrative and enjoyable career.
Fortunately, the many fields of training define the numerous career paths from which a person can choose among the most marketable courses in Kenya.
