The
Mountain Journal team
Prof
Deogratius Jaganyi has been installed the second Vice Chancellor at Mt Kenya University
(MKU).
In a
colourful ceremony, Prof Jaganyi who worked previously at South Africa’s
University of KwaZulu Natal, took over from Prof Stanley Waudo.
Waudo
retired after steering MKU for a 13-year stint as
VC.
MKU
Founder and Chairman Prof Simon Gicharu extolled the achievements by the
institution over the last 13 years, adding that in Prof Jaganyi is expected to
continue setting the pace for higher education in Kenya and generally
Africa.
Prof Deogratius Jaganyi
“There
is no doubt that over the last 13 years, Prof. Waudo has navigated this ship
with professionalism and wisdom,” he said at the ceremony.
“Taking
into account the commitment to continuous success now and for generations to
come, we embarked on this exercise of recruiting Prof. Waudo’s successor more
than a year ago. It was a challenging exercise. We cast the net far and wide,
looking for an academic leader who had a strong work ethic, leadership skills
and passion to steer us to the next phase of progress.”
“Prof.
Jaganyi was competitively picked. He has more than 20 years’ experience in
management and academia from institutions of international repute.”
Prof
Waudo was tapped as VC in 2008 and under his leadership, the university was
awarded a Charter. It has since then won several global meritorious awards and
emerged first in a number of international research grants awarded to private
universities in Kenya.
Change of Guard
Prof Deogratius Jaganyi (left) with MKU Chairman Dr Simon Gicharu in the middle and Dr Jane Nyutu( Right) at the installation ceremony.
MKU has also graduated over 100,000 students while
achieving internationalization and established several allied institutions
notably Equip Africa Institute.
Education background of the VC
He completed his primary education in 1974 and secondary in 1978 both at St. Teresa
Boys in Eastleigh.
He then
went to high school at Strathmore College in Lovington, where he sat for his
Form Six exams before getting his BSc and MSc from the University of Nairobi.
He then proceeded to the Imperial College for his PhD. He later joined
University of Natal – South Africa (later renamed University of KwaZulu-Natal)
as a Physical Chemistry lecturer in 1993.
He said
he would steer MKU deeper into areas of research and innovation, while ensuring
that students get not just the traditional skill sets but also new ones, which
will be demanded of them at the job market, either as entrepreneurs or
employees. He will also look at instilling more life skills to MKU students,
noting that the world today requires much more than classroom knowledge.
“The
types of jobs being created are in the emerging fields, Information
Communication and Technology (ICT) driven while the old require digital
problem-solving skills. Companies already want ‘ABCD’: A for Artificial
Intelligence, B for Blockchain, C for Cloud Computing, and D for Data
Analytics,” he said.
“These
are emerging skills that companies need to remain globally competitive and they
look to universities to provide the required human resource.”
“The
world is in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where we are
witnessing the extraordinary coming together of the digital, physical and
biological realms… these technologies are advancing at a tremendous
pace.”
Jaganyi
also added that he will ensure that MKU is ready for young Kenyans who have
recently started schooling under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).
“As
part of its national mandate MKU has to be ready for the learner who will have
gone through the CBC,” he said.
“MKU
will review and align the existing undergraduate programs to CBC and develop
world-class, market oriented and transformative academic programs, tailored to
address the current and emerging industry and global needs of the present times
moving forward, so as to produce highly capable, future-ready graduates who are
highly sought-after.”
He
takes over at a time when the country, and generally the world, is reeling from
the harsh impact of Covid-19. Schools have to adhere to the protocols by the
government aimed at minimising the spread of the disease including social
distancing.
MKU
ventured into the world on e-learning with its Open, Distance and Electronic
Learning (ODEL) platform. Jaganyi said the university will now increasingly use
the platform in teaching, blending it with the traditional learning
model.
“MKU
will therefore enhance blended learning and teaching going forward. This will
be achieved by leveraging on current and emerging technologies to enhance
access and improve quality of University Education as well as investing in the
development of premium digital learning platforms,” he said.
Jaganyi
added that he will deepen research at the university. Already, the
institution’s researcher have bagged major awards for their work, much of which
has been aimed at solving challenges that Kenyans face.
“If
education is the foundation of the MKU, then excellence in research will have
to be a defining feature of our institutional landscape,” he said.
“MKU will embed the agenda of transformative research and
innovation at the core of the institution’s mandate and mainstream research
function in the undergraduate and graduate programs.
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