Kenyatta University

Kenyatta University, located in Nairobi, Kenya is the second largest public university in the country (after University of Nairobi). The University is located in Kahawa, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Nairobi's city centre, along the Nairobi-Thika road.

History

The university traces it history to a colonial military installation known as the Templer Barracks. In 1965 Templer Barracks was converted into Kenyatta College, primarily a teacher training institution (majorly S1 graduates). Kenyatta College was then elevated to a constituent college of the University of Nairobi in 1970. In 1985 the university college was incorporated by the then-president Daniel arap Moi and was renamed Kenyatta University. This was done through establishment of the Kenyatta University Act by the National Assembly of Kenya.
The majority of its graduates were from the school of education, making the university a leader in education courses. Over time the college has diversified its course offerings to remain competitive and help achieve the national goals of eradicating ignorance.

Schools

Today the university has the following schools:

• School of Agriculture and Enterprise Development
• School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• School of Business (with three major departments: Accounting and Finance, Management Science, and Business Administration)
• School of Economics
• School of Education
• School of Engineering (taken from School of Pure and Applied Sciences; courses in this school normally take five years to complete with a few being four-year courses)
• School of Environmental Studies
• School of Graduate studies
• School of Health Sciences
• School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• School of Law-newly established. Currently in its second year and is offered in Parklands Campus.
• School of Pure and Applied Sciences
• School of Visual and Performing Arts
• School of Hospitality & Tourism Management

Current status

The university has open-learning, e-learning, school-based, part-time and full-time teaching. This has transformed the institution into the second largest in Kenya. In 1997 it had about 8,000 students. As of 2009, has about 24,000 students.

Current initiative

An MSc student at Kenyatta's Nairobi campus

Kenyatta University has embarked on a rapid expansion strategy aimed at making it a world-class university and at expanding the courses it offers. To achieve this, the university has created a solid ICT infrastructure which includes a campus network based on fibre optic technology, gigabit access to the network for both students and staff to facilitate access to the Internet and localized information services.
It has built a morgue with the introduction of surgery and medicine courses. The university is building more labs and reviving projects that had been stalled for years, including completion of an arts complex. More effort is being put on the flow of information by investing in communication channels and getting feedback from students. This includes a community radio, which is streamed via the Internet to the satellite campuses across Kenya.
The Arts Complex (phases 1 and 2) that houses the university radio station KU 99.9 FM, 2 hostels (Nyayo 5 and 6), New Lecture Halls (Onesmo OleMoiyoi Lecture Thetre) and the science laboratories have been finalized. Another milestone has been the completion of a large 5 storey laboratory and library unit that is visible from the Thika road; it is rumoured to accommodate all 24,000 students as well as an amphitheatre.
A state of the art Business and Student Servive Center was opened on May 2009 that has facilities including the office os the dean of students, food courts, banks, post office, Student governance offices, mentoring offices, the university printing press, a computer laboratory which is meant to be open for 224 hours and aa reading room just to mention a few.

Campuses

Kenyatta University is continually expanding and has opened additional campuses apart from its main campus. The campuses include:

City Campus

Located at the heart of Nairobi City, Haile Sellasie avenue, to cater for the growing number of students in the city center.

Parklands Campus

Located in Parklands near Nairobi city Center: This campus offers business and I.T. related course at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The campus also offers LL.B. (Bachelors of Law)

Ruiru Campus

This campus is located at Ruiru town, less than five kilometers from the main campus. It is generally an extension of the main campus. This campus does not offer the full range of subjects offered at the main campus.

Mombasa Campus

This campus is situated in Mombasa town along the coastal strip of Kenya. It began operation in May 2007.

Kitui Campus

It began operation in October 2007. It is among the smaller campuses. It is currently among the most fast developing campuses of Kenyatta University due to the increasing number of student admission. The campus is found along Machakos-Kitui road a place known as Kwavonza..

Kericho Campus

This campus is located in Kericho Town. It is also among the smaller campuses. The major course being offered in this campus is Education.