CUEA celebrates 40 years of faith,innovation,research,excellence and community service

Vice Chancellor of The Catholic University of Eastern Africa Very Rev Professor Stephen Mbugua during the institution's 40th Anniversary Celebrations. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

The Catholic University of East Africa(CUEA) on Wednesday celebrated 40th anniversary.

The institution also celebrated four decades of research, teaching, innovation and community service.

The university, which was conceived in Tanzania in the 1960s during a Bishop’s conference has grown in leaps and bounds.

In 1994, it was known as the Catholic Higher Institution of East Africa (CHIEA) before it was given an interim charter in 1990 and later a full charter in 1992.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor George Kimathi highlighted the achievements for the university including student enrolment from less than 100 when it began to now a population of over 9,300 with summer semesters having 8,300 students.

“As a matter of fact the CUEA community now stands at over 10,000 community members when you add lecturers, staff, lecturers and other supporting people,” said Prof Kimathi during the 40th-anniversary celebrations at the main campus in Karen, Nairobi. 

Vice Chancellor Stephen Mbugua said it has taken the hand of God since he took over in 2017.

“CUEA has had its good and bad times. When I came to CUEA it was one of the lowest time since it had just received a letter from the Commission of High Education(CUE) to close down in a year. I was told to come and reverse that and I refused but I was told I have no option but to come and I had to come as an act of obedience,” said Prof Mbugua.

“When I came in, during the handing over, I think there was a debt of Sh1.9 billion and it was increasing by Sh700,000 per day and I was told the staff had not been paid for over six months and some would walk all the way from Ongata Rongai,” he added.

He equated the 40 years the university is celebrating to the biblical years the children of Israel were in the wilderness.

The VC assured that by September 12, he shall finish paying the Sh2.6 billion debt.

“It took a lot of sacrifice from myself, management and students because that debt was much more than all the buildings of CUEA and that is why the bank wanted to auction it,” he said.

Mbugua recounted how one time he went to a bank to ask the chief executive officer to be lenient on them after they went to court to get an order to auction the university, but he said he doesn’t trust him (VC).

“But he finally gave us a few months, we owed around Sh300 million and in about eight months, we worked very hard got the money and went there and paid the loan and closed the bank account,” he said.

The deputy VC said the growth of the university is testament to the quality of education and nurturing environment they provide to students.

Kimathi cited the relaunch of the CUEA journal, which is now online.

“I am glad to announce that over the last one week, we were able to acquire the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), which will make them refereed journals that will be published right here in CUEA,” he said.

He was optimistic that the publishing ability is going to not only expand their reach and impact in their research but also position CUEA as a pioneer in academic publishing and innovation.

Kimathi revealed that the publishing will not only happen at the main campus but also in Gaba Campus press in Eldoret.

The expansion of academic faculties, schools and institutions from only theology to current nine faculties, which has enabled them to offer a wide range of courses was also mentioned as an achievement.

“This achievement is again a testament of our hardwork and dedication of our faculty students and staff who try to excel in everything they do,” said Kimathi.

The fact that CUEA was recently recognised among the top 10 universities in Kenya by EduRank is another feat.

CUEA students organization President Daniel Mwendwa and Vice-Chancellor Very Rev Professor Stephen Mbugua during the 40th-anniversary celebrations. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

The university was ranked position 10 after Pwani University, Technical University of Kenya, Egerton and Mount Kenya while the University of Nairobi took the top position.

CUEA's constituent college, Tangaza, was in May given a full charter by President William Ruto to become Tangaza University.

Other constituent colleges that are on the way to becoming universities are Hekima College and Marist International University College in Nairobi.

Kimathi cited the increase in the number of graduating students from less than 20 in 1986 to over 3,100 last year, a growth of almost 3000 per cent while the alumni now stands at over 48,000.

“This is a reflection of the quality of education and impactful learning experiences that CUEA provides to equip our students with knowledge, skills and competencies to excel in their skills,” he said.

To mark the celebration, the university will host two international conferences on multi-disciplinary in nature in October and another on Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Education in November.

The VC encouraged the students, staff and guests to work to take the university to another level.

The culmination of the celebration was tree planting at the university grounds.