The Mountain Journal
By James Wakahiu
The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an upsurge of crime related to
mental disorder in institutions of higher learning.
Dr
Jane Nyuttu, Co-Founder and Member, Board of Directors, Mount Kenya University
(MKU) says many incidents of suicide
and murders in illicit relationships among the youth, violence directed to
teachers and parents, as well as drug and substance abuse and addictions have spiked
during the pandemic.
To
mitigate this, MKU has launched a Mind
and Beyond Counselling Centre to tackle mental health issues among students
and youth in society. “The fully-fledged programme aims to get to the root of
mental health challenges blamed for a worrying surge in reported cases of
violence, criminality and bizarre incidents involving young people,” she added.
Speaking during MKU’s 19th graduation ceremony held over the
weekend, Dr Nyuttu said a new MKU Convention Centre will be commissioned soon.
“It has a sitting capacity for 2,000 people and will support the region in
hosting drama festivals, local and international conferences, public lectures as
well as community gatherings. The spacious facility allows social distancing
when holding large gatherings,” she added.
MKU
vice-chancellor, Prof Deo Jaganyi 
said despite the impact of COVID-19, the university has continued to strive in
enrolling students for the various academic programmes. “This
has been made possible by the ICT
infrastructural support systems that the University has put in place to support
e-learning mode of delivery of content.
Today, we are witnessing graduands who went through online learning and
examination in the recent past during the period of suspension of face-to-face
learning,” he added.
MKU
has meanwhile introduced an
academic progression monitoring
tool will help to ensure that the students and their guardians can accurately
determine the academic standing of every student at any given time. “It will also enhance the efficiency of
planning and monitoring of students’ academic progression from the point of
entry to exit from the university,” added Prof Jaganyi.
During
the ceremony held virtually, 6,556 students graduated, with 53 per cent (3,505)
being male and 47 per cent (3,051) female.
Among these were 10 
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) graduands, 165 165
Masters Degrees, 
130 Postgraduate Diplomas, 4,678 Bachelor’s
Degrees, 1,192 Diplomas and 381certificate holders.
He
said the necessary infrastructure for mounting the Master of Laws programme is
in place and the University is looking forward towards admitting its first
cohort of freshmen in the September-December 2021/2022 semester.
The chairman of the
University Council, Prof. David Serem, said MKU recognises that retired staff, especially
professors can still make immense contribution in research and in mentorship of
postgraduate students. The institution
therefore has put measures in place to support the retirees and to benefit from
their knowledge and experiences.
Highlighting the
rising prominence of partnerships at MKU, Prof John Struthers, Chancellor MKU
said the university has been recognised by the United Nations Academic Impact
(UNAI) Office in New York through a unique opportunity to serve as the UNAI Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 10
Hub) on Reduced Inequalities.
An existing MoU between the Danish Refugee Council
(DRC) and MKU which has seen over 35 students secure full scholarships at the
university in 2021 is also another milestone. “Similarly in March 2021, MKU
recently signed a prestigious partnership agreement with the United Nations
Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) via which more than 20 members of
faculty are engaged in different research activities whose actualization also
includes scholars from other institutions of higher learning across the African
continent,” he said.
Additionally,
MKU was recently awarded the International
Junior Nurse Fellowship by the Bradford District Care NHS Foundation
Trust (BDCFT) in the United Kingdom. Launched last month, the 12-month long
project that will be delivered virtually and benefit 10 competitively selected
senior student nurses at the institution.
The chief guest, Prof Waswa
Balunywa, Principal Makerere University Business School, Uganda, urged African countries to design
an education system that gives them the skills needed at the different levels
in the economy. “While the
structure of higher education in a country depends mainly on government and
government effort, professionals play a role in shaping education depending on
the level of advancement,” he said.
Prof Balunywa
decried the
lack of emphasis on natural resources in the continent’s education system. “For
instance, East Africa and the entire Sub-Saharan Africa has numerous water
bodies around it, but there have been no studies in water resources that can be
identified in primary schools, secondary schools and even tertiary
institutions,” he said.
He said Africa
is a vast potential in green energy, but little emphasizes is placed on energy
as a university course. “ This would be a major source of energy. Quite often, we mimic the developed countries
in what they are doing, forgetting that we would create a better continent if we
had studied our resources
He urged for
increased focus on agriculture,
which employs 60 to 90 per cent of the African population. Focusing on the graduation ceremony theme of Enhancement of Equity, diversity and Inclusion through Community Engagement,
the principal called for increased funding for bright but poor university
students in the continent. Prof Waswa Balunywa is
a scholar in Management, Leadership and Entrepreneurship.
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