Monthly Archives: September 2011

JKUAT University – Why So Much Diversification in Courses?



There was a time when the JKUAT University was associated only as an engineering University but whether that maxim still holds true is a debate for another day. The JKUAT University started operating in 1984 mainly as a middle level College offering courses in engineering and technical disciplines. It got a boost in its profile when the Japanese government decided to fund it. It hence became a University with a strong emphasis on engineering and technical education. It even surpassed the University of Nairobi as the University of Choice in engineering related courses.

However, the Japanese withdrew funding for the University in 2001 and handed it over to the Kenyan government. From then on the University has embarked on a rapid diversification mode. It now offers courses in a wide range of disciplines; from humanities, through the liberal arts to the sciences. But for a University that wanted to model itself as the MIT of Kenya; did it loss its cause? Now, you must understand that this must be very desperate times for Kenyan Universities. With the funding from the exchequer dwindling by the day, the University, like its counterparts in the country, had to resort to other means of generating income in order to make it self sustainable. It therefore had to start courses in humanities and other disciplines in order to generate income. Let’s face it, there is no way they could have attracted enough self sponsored students for a technical course such as mechanical or electrical engineering.

However, the University must also strive to maintain its identity as a technical University even as it tries to become a financially viable institution.