Plans to start university in Nyandarua in top gear

Plans are in top gear to put up a university campus in the county by the end of the year.

This will be the first university in the region as the county is the only one without such an institution in the Mount Kenya region.

According to the county leadership, this will done in collaboration with the University of Nairobi which will be pioneering the project.

The first batch of students are expected to be admitted at Ol Jororok Agriculture Training Centre which has been identified as the satellite campus.

According to the team leading the establishment of the university, the premises has been refurbished and they are awaiting the clearance by the Commission for University Education.

“We have gone through all these processes and what we are awaiting is now the clearance by the commission.We expect to admit the first batch of students any time soon,”  said Governor Francis Kimemia.

Mr Kimemia who graced a graduation ceremony for pioneer students drawn from employees of Nyandarua County Government who underwent short term training at the centre yesterday, said three courses will be offered at the university.

The are degrees in Agriculture, Business Administration and Education.

“Nyandarua people will at last have a university of their own which was long overdue.We are glad to announce that we will be offering these new courses as from June this year,” he said.

Already, the courses had been advertised and Kenyans had been called upon to apply.

Kimemia said students of Nyandarua will not have to travel far to seek education as they will be given priority during the admissions.

He said that under the mentorship from the University of Nairobi, they are sure that they will be offered quality education.

“This is one of the respected universities in Africa and we are glad that they have agreed to mentor us until we get a fully-fledged university. Our students will at last get quality education which they have been longing for,” said the governor.

He said that the building of the main campus, which will be situated at Kapten, will start soon once all the planning has been done.

The governor noted that all the necessary arrangements had been made to ensure that everything goes on well.

“We have already put in place a master plan for the construction of the main campus at Kapten in Ol Kalou. It will only be a few months for the work to start as the ground work has already been laid,” he noted.

This, he added, would be funded by the national government in collaboration with the county government. The university will be built on a 50-acre piece of land hived off from Salient Secondary School.

University of Nairobi technical team leader Dr James Gakuo said the institution was ready to start offering the courses.

“The staff and the technical team are ready to offer education in the new campus as from May. We have been on the ground and all the necessary facilities to start the three courses are available,” he said.

Residents have welcomed the new move, saying it will bring development in the region.