The Technical University of Kenya TU-K has formerly moved to corporate with Hubei University of Automotive Technology (HUAT), China, in areas of academia and industrial linkages. A delegation led by the President of HUAT, Prof. Wang Xiao, visited TU-K where they signed an MoU. The VC, Prof. Benedict Mutua signed for TU-K. The two institutions committed to advance knowledge and innovation in the automotive and engineering disciplines. Prof. Xiao was accompanied by Prof. Zhou Mingzhi, Vice Dean of Academic Affairs at HUAT, Prof. Su Zibo, the Chinese Director of Confucius Institute at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, and Prof Daniel Duah, the Ghanaian Director of Confucius Institute at KNUST.
The DVC, Institutional Advancement and Enterprise (IAE) Prof. Paul M. Wambua, Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (FEBE) Prof. Cleophas Maende, and Chairperson, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Fredrick Mutua attended the event.
Some of the key areas of corporation include; research collaboration, innovation and technology development, linkage between industry and academia, capacity building and knowledge, data, and resource sharing.
The VC expressed his excitement noting that TU-K is ready to forge joint research on strategic areas that are critical to both Kenya’s development and the global automotive industry.
“By combining HUAT’s renowned expertise in automotive technology and TU-K’s growing capacity in applied research and innovation, we aim to co-create solutions that are practical, scalable, and impactful,” he said.
The collaboration would also harness emerging technologies and innovations that will address the complex automotive challenges in our societies.
Prof. Mutua at the same time praised Hubei University’s lead in linkage between the academia and the industry noting that TU-K will borrow their best practices in putting impetus into local and global markets.
HUAT is the only higher education institution in China that has grown and developed alongside the nation's automotive industry, and it is the most distinctive university specialising in automotive studies. The university is located in Shiyan City, Hubei Province.
Students and faculty from both institutions will also benefit through joint ventures in exchange programmes, shared seminars and workshops, construction of joint research laboratories, and bilateral training opportunities hence, stimulate ideas between our institutions.
“We at the Technical University of Kenya are confident that this partnership will enhance the technical, practical, and research capacities of our students and staff and also, offer HUAT an opportunity to engage with our emerging automotive and manufacturing frontier,” Prof. Mutua said.
“Today, guided by the sincere conviction that those who share the same aspirations are not separated by mountains or seas, we have traveled across the ocean to Kenya, to Nairobi, and to TU-K,” said Prof. Xiao.
“This will undoubtedly inject new momentum into our bilateral cooperation. We hope that through exchanges in automotive engineering education, we can promote mutual development and contribute our share to building a China-Africa community with a shared future.”
Prof. Wambua said the collaboration was achieved through an initiative by Dr. Mutua after attending China-Africa Automotive Development Forum and the International Conference on New Energy Vehicles and Intelligent Connectivity hosted by HUAT in 2024.
While extending an invitation to the VC and faculty to visit HUAT, Prof. Xiao quoted a saying that ‘Distance cannot separate true friends who feel close at heart, even when they are thousands of miles apart.’
HUAT has since collaborated with other universities in Germany, France, the UK, the USA, Canada, Finland, Ghana, and many other countries. Currently, HUAT operates one Sino-foreign cooperative education programme approved by the Ministry of Education and has one officially approved Confucius Institute.
