Mount Kenya University (MKU) has held its largest graduation ceremony ever in Thika town that saw 7,974 students feted, the highest number in the last seven years.
Vice chancellor Prof Deogratius Jaganyi said the achievement was a result of the culmination of a well-orchestrated journey of planning, execution, and relentless improvement.
He praised the implementation of an Academic Sustainability Project and a Postgraduate Students’ Academic Progression Tracking Project for being instrumental in supporting postgraduate students to complete their studies on time.
Congratulating the graduands, the vice chancellor said significant strides have been made in sensitizing researchers to the need for publishing in internationally recognized, indexed, and peer- reviewed journals to get global visibility.
Dr Beatrice Inyangala, Principal Secretary, State Department for Higher Education and Research, Ministry of Education, was the chief guest during the fete whose theme was “university sustainability through research and innovation”.
She congratulated MKU for, “An incredible journey over the last 25 years. In total determination to supplement the government’s efforts to increase access to affordable, relevant and quality university education, MKU chose the path less travelled,” she said.
The PS urged all Kenyan Universities to join the free-of-charge United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) platform and also apply to be UN Academic Impact SDGs Hubs in line with the available guidelines that give a deadline of 30th September, 2025.
“I reaffirm the Ministry’s commitment to provide a conducive policy environment for support of research, patents promotion, as well as scaling of innovations and their commercialization,” she said.
Partnerships
Prof Simon gicharu, Chairman, MKU Board of Directors said a partnership deal between MKU and the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences, Germany is providing apprenticeship opportunities for nursing professionals from Eastern Africa to work in German hospitals.
“The first cohort travelled to Germany in April 2024 and the second cohort are part of this graduation and will be traveling to Germany in September,” he said.
In support of this initiative, the German Government, through their development agency DAAD, has appointed Ms Charlotte Katharin Filbry to assist MKU in training students in the German language. “This training is a mandatory part of the pre-departure preparation. Her first language is German, and she is also proficient in English and Norwegian,” he noted.
A similar collaboration with the Austrian health authorities and Lebenshilfe Tirol will integrate 40 trained MKU nurses annually into Austrian hospitals and elderly care homes. “The first two candidates, are set to depart in October. Another 15 candidates are completing their German language training and will join them shortly,” he added.
Other notable employment-generating initiatives include the establishment of the Malindi Maritime Academy at MKU’s Malindi campus, which will offer standards of training, certification, and watch keeping (STCW) basic and advanced training for the first time in this region. “Previously, individuals had to travel to Korea and other Asian countries for these mandatory courses to join the merchant navy, cruise ships, and other vessels,” Prof Gicharu said.
Additionally, MKU will be launching a Bachelor of Nautical Sciences programme, making it the first university in the region to train ship captains and officers. And for Gen Z who are active users and consumers of esports, the institution, in collaboration with The Esports Kenya Federation, will establish an esports training center at the newly refurbished Student Centre at the Thika campus.
Prof Gicharu said the World Bank funded Innovation grant through the Ministry of Investment Trade and Industry to establish an innovation and incubation centre at the university to support early-stage businesses in the fields of manufacturing, agriculture, the creative economy, Health and ICT.
Meanwhile, MKU will be releasing all the pending certificates unconditionally to all those unable to clear their fees balance. “Any collections from those accounts in case the beneficiaries after securing jobs feel indebted to clear the fees should go in support of Chancellor’s Scholarship. This gesture should also incorporate the previous graduates of our university in Rwanda,” the chairman said.
MKU chancellor Prof John Struthers extended warm greetings from his home university, the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), family and friends in Glasgow, UK.
He commended the MKU fraternity for successively hosting the Centre for African Research on Enterprise and Economic Development (CAREED) 8th International Conference in July – the first CAREED Conference to be held in Africa – and co-hosted in June 2024 by UWS The 8th CAREED 2024 conference attracted about 46 academic papers presented across several themes in a partnership that has been actively running for the last seven years.
“I take pride in the conspicuous growth of partnerships-driven teaching, research and community outreach activities at MKU which involves many deals with global universities. For instance, new engagements between MKU and partners from Japan, Europe and Australia cannot go unmentioned,” Prof Struthers added.
The chancellor appreciated new the partnerships signed with the Cape Media’s Talent Academy and with Kenyatta University Teaching, Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH) among many others are indeed significant achievements.
Innovations support
Congratulating the graduands, Dr. Vincent Gaitho, chairman of the University Council said the council has continued to support the institution by approving policies aimed at boosting service delivery. For example, MKU alumni base, with over 140,000 members, is now bring boosted by a Directorate of Alumni Relations. The new Directorate is expected to pursue the tenets of the association in line with outlined functions while pursuing innovative ways to making MKU Alumni a vibrate pool of national builders and ambassadors of their Alma Mater.
Recent developments include construction and equipping of four Pharmacy Laboratories at Nakuru Campus and two fully equipped Nursing Skills Laboratories at Thika campus, adoption of smart classrooms and digital technologies and acquisition of interactive displays.
“The university council pursuant of its mandate will remain forthright in providing proposals and recommendations to the Board for capital development and expansion of the institution,” he said.
Dr Gaitho said in line with the 25th Graduation Ceremony theme, “University sustainability through research and innovation”, the Council encourages the Research Directorate to set up regional hubs of excellence through multi-disciplinary, impactful and transformative research. “We call upon the faculty, students, alumni and members of the public to make optimal utilization of the state-of-the-art facilities of; Research, Enterprise and Innovation Centre and Innovation and Incubation Centre,” he added.
The council chairman appealed to the government and other development partners to increase allocation of research funding to universities and research institutions if data-based development is to be realized. “It is evident that source of economic growth for nations depend on investment in the education, research and skilling the youth to meaningfully engage in jobs and wealth creation,” he noted.
Dr Gaitho said MKU has been powered by synergetic partnerships and collaborative engagements with local, regional and international institutions and industries. “Public- Private Partnerships have been instrumental to the improvement of creativity, innovativeness and entrepreneurships geared towards use of available resources,” he said.
To confront climate change challenges, MKU has partnered with the government agencies, communities and stakeholders to plant and grow indigenous and medicinal plants and trees in a 50-acre Botanical Garden here at the graduation pavilion grounds. From the Botanical Garden and in collaboration of stakeholders in the indigenous knowledge space, MKU has innovated a herbal soap (WEMA) which is accredited by KEBS and in the process of commercialization.
Dorcas Owinoh, an alumni representative of the MKU Alumni Association (MKUAA) welcomed the graduands to join the association established in 2016. “We are now a formidable body of men and women has engaged in this fast-growing network of MKU’s Alumni who come from every academic discipline of this University,” she said. “As you proceed to your new positions within our larger global community, be informed that, there are opportunities waiting for you, but also, there is a conducive environment for you to create your own opportunities of service,” she added.
According to Vice Chancellor Prof Jaganyi, during the year, MKU participated in the 9th Edition of the Kenya Universities Sports Association (KUSA) biannual national games in December 2023 in which 16 Universities were represented. MKU emerged the best – overall and won 62 medals. MKU was also the best in male teams, female teams, and private university category.
In this year’s Kenya National Drama Festivals, MKU emerged the best overall in the university category and was honored to make its presentation for the winning genre “spoken word’ titled “abandoned” at the presidential state concert at the Sagana State Lodge in April. The college has also continued nurturing MKUSA (student associations) student leaders by supporting and exposing them in different forums.
To align the MKU Teacher Education Programmes curricula as guided by the requirements by Commission of University Education (CUE) on aligning the universities curricular to the fundamentals of Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), MKU has supported and finalised the alignment of the seven School of Education programmes to CBC and is awaiting the approval by CUE for the respective programmes to be implemented.
He said the university supported the organization of various forums such as the 8th CAREED Conference, the Cancer Implementation Science Symposium and the Western Regional Workshop at Thika and Nakuru Campuses respectively, to provide a platform for academics and sector players to exchange innovative ideas and ways of improving social development.
The University has continued to build strategic partnerships to strengthen research and innovation ecosystem. Several members of faculty from different schools and departments have travelled to Europe under the Erasmus mobility grants to engage with colleagues in different universities to discuss future collaborations.
The University has also established a strategic partnership with Mayo Clinic of Arizona, USA, in cancer research. Discussions are underway with other local and international partners, including The University of Florida, for joint research projects.
MKU has set aside financial resources to support research activities, including providing seed grants through the Vice-Chancellor’s Research and Innovation Grant. This year, the University will award faculty members from various schools research grants up to Sh1.8 million. “Faculty members are expected to work with post-graduate students to improve the graduate completion rate. The MKU faculty members continue to source for external research funding by applying for competitive research grants. This year, between January and June, the University faculty won over Sh75 million to support research and innovation.
On the innovation front, four student innovators from the Innovation Incubation hub pitched their innovations alongside contestants from 30 countries at Strathmore University. MKU, together with Kenyatta University and Start-Up Energy jointly plan to release a call for digital solutions on clean energy.
“More good news to innovators is that the University, with funding from the World Bank, has planned to launch a call for innovations,” he added.
