All TU-K News

More than 2,900 graduands were conferred with degrees and awarded diplomas and certificates during the 12^th Graduation Ceremony presided by the Acting Chancellor, Dr Idle Omar Farah. During the ceremony, graced by the Principal Secretary for State Department for University Education, Dr. Beatrice Muganda Inyangala, Prof. Benedict Mwavu Mutua, was installed as the second Vice-Chancellor of The Technical University of Kenya.

The University Council will soon undertake a staff rationalisation exercise aimed at mitigating the ever-ballooning wage bill. The exercise will create a more efficient, lean, and agile workforce structure to curb the financial constraints the institution has been experiencing. The Chairman of the University Council, Dr Idle Omar Farah, disclosed this when he presided at the 12^th Graduation ceremony where more than 2900 graduands were conferred with degrees and awarded diplomas and certificates.

The certificate verification exercise is currently underway in the Samsung Lab. The exercise was supposed to begin at 9.00 am but due to some logistical hitches, it was delayed up to 11.30 am. The Chairman of the Certificate Verification Committee, Prof. Peter Matu, was delighted that members of staff had turned up in large numbers and had waited patiently for the exercise to begin. “We were not able to begin at 9.00 am as earlier anticipated but we have since addressed the hitch,” said Prof. Matu.

Nurturing entrepreneurial mindset amongst university students has become a prime focus for researchers. This is motivated by the need to solve the persistent challenge of youth unemployment. In Kenya alone, unemployment among the youth remains one of the major policy concerns of the Government, as 35% of the youth (4.5 million young men and women) remain unemployed.

Two students from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Mechatronics Engineering and the School Electrical and Electronics Engineering represented the University in the just concluded Kenya Innovation Week 2023 that was officially opened by President William Ruto. Cecilia Otieno and Rhyl Kiio showcased ingenious innovations: Air Quality Monitoring System and a Mobile Money Payment System respectively that attracted a lot interest from government agencies, private companies and the general public.

Ho Technical University, Ghana, and the Technical University of Kenya, are set for student and teaching staff exchange programme geared towards joint training and research. This is tailored to solve challenges in the African continent through homegrown technological and innovative solutions. The visiting Vice-Chancellor from Ho Technical University, Prof. Ben Q. Honyenuga, noted that the continent has common socio-economic and political challenges that call for shared knowledge between learning and research institutions in Africa.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Benedict Mutua, has applauded the members of staff preparing to retire soon from the service of the University.  “You have done a great job with limited resources to bring the institution to its current status where it is among the top ten universities in the country.  There is a lot to learn from your efforts and for this, we sincerely appreciate you,” said the VC in a speech read on his behalf by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Institutional Advancement and Enterprise Division (IAE), Prof. Paul Wambua, when he opened a pre-retirement training for staff due to retire in the years 2023, 2024 and 2025 organised by the Directorate of Human Resource Management.

Two students from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Felix Mazinza and Cecilia Otieno, were declared winners of the student innovation presented during the 30^th Institute of Engineers of Kenya (IEK) Annual International Convention. The event, themed “Engineering A New World,”  was held from the 14^th to 17^th November 2023 at a Mombasa hotel. The student innovation on Application of IoT in Monitoring of Air Quality was declared the best among the presentations presented from other universities. The students were awarded a trophy, a cash prize of Sh50,000 and they were also presented with certificates.

The Kenyan leather industry urgently needs innovative solutions and research to become profitable. This was said during the 2^nd workshop on Eco-Tanning Processes in Kenya and the East African Region held in Nairobi. The event brought together tanning industry players, researchers in areas of leather processing and marketing, environmental scholars and regulators. The industry, was termed as‘a sleeping economic giant’ but was tipped to awaken the country’s manufacturing sector, create job opportunities in line with President William Ruto’s focus on leather, pharmaceuticals and edible oil value chains to grow the economy.

Globalisation and changing trends are offering the youth a lot of opportunities for innovation, employment and socio-economic development. The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy Eng. John Tanui urged university students to take advantage of the globalisation reality to earn a living.

The PS graced this year’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Industry Symposium at TU-K where he challenged students to venture into technology.

Prof. Alfred Orina has challenged researches to explore opportunities for commercializing their innovations. While assuring university support for scholars, Prof. Orina, the DVC, Research and Technology Development, called on researchers to pool together with multidisciplinary expertise to raise stakes of accessing of funding. The DVC was speaking when he presented certificates to members of teaching staff who participated in the Research to Commercialisation (R2C) training of trainers (TOT) at the University.

The Technical University of Kenya will on Wednesday, 22^nd November, 2023 host the X-Culture Global Collaboration Award Ceremony at the Main Hall. The event will celebrate the outstanding achievement of the 60 business students who successfully completed the X-Culture collaboration course involving theoretical training and two months of practical experience. During the ceremony, the students will be presented with certificates in recognition of their exemplary contribution to the success of the X-Culture Global Collaboration. The TU-K students working alongside 6100 students from 144 universities in over 45 countries drawn from 6 continents, developed high quality business strategies for multinational companies.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Benedict Mutua today led members of staff and students in marking the Tree Growing Day as declared last week by the Government. The VC indicated that the University was committed to setting up of tree nursery with key focus in planting indigenous and fruit trees. The VC was speaking at South B Campus where the event was marked. It was part of the nationwide campaign that was led by President William Ruto who called on Kenyans to participate in tree planting countrywide. The Government targets to have at least 15 billion trees grown countrywide by 2032.

The Kenya Society of Environmental, Biological and Agricultural Engineers (KeSEBAE) is seeking to collaborate with the Technical University of Kenya in areas of research and advocacy. Members of the society who were led by the Chairman Eng. Prof. Lawrence Gumbe, met the university management led by DVC Institutional Advancement and Enterprise Prof. Paul Wambua to deliberate on the collaboration.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Benedict Mutua, has challenged policy makers in Africa to embrace indigenous knowledge since it is an invaluable resource that holds the potential to address some of the most pressing global challenges. Prof. Mutua said this when he addressed participants during the third International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management held at a Nairobi hotel from 2^nd to 6^th October, 2023.

On Wednesday 11^th October 2023, Prof. Camilla Forsberg from University of California, delivered an inspiring public lecture on stem cell and regenerative medicine at the university. The presentation was dubbed; ‘For the love of blood: Hematopoietic stem cells functions through the lifespan. Prof. Forsberg who is also the Director of the Institute of for the Biology of Stem Cells (IBSC), is globally recognised for her pioneering research in stem cell in biology and regenerative medicine.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Benedict Mutua, on Friday 6^th October 2023, made a whistle-stop tour of the University in what was his familiarisation exercise.

The VC officially took over the mantle of leadership on 18^th September 2023 and up to 6^th October, he had not had a chance to site-see the entire university.

Safaricom Engineering Community in partnership with the School of Computing and Information Technology on the 29^th September, 2023, conducted a Build by Safaricom sensitization workshop. The workshop officially sets off a one-year acceleration program that will see engineering students, and those undertaking computing and Information technologies gain professional capacities in Data Engineering, particularly in the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning as well as Data Engineering.

24 students in various disciplines are set to travel to France to teach English in different learning institutions. This is part of French and Kenyan Governments exchange programme where Language Assistants from both countries have opportunities to teach English in France and French Assistants teach French in Kenya.

Ms. Ivy Kendi, a 2^nd year student from the School of Hospitality and Human Ecology, won the Fashion Technology Award at the WorldSkills Kenya, National Competitions and Innovation. The competition was held from the 28^th August - 1^st September 2023 at the Kenyatta International Conference Center, Nairobi. As a result, Ms. Kendi will represent the country in the WorldSkills International Competition set to take place in Lyon, France from September 10^th - 15^th 2024.