Do not miss out the Nation Leadership Forum slated for Thursday 21st May 2020 Live on NTV at 7.30pm. The University of Nairobi Vice Chancellor, Prof. Stephen Kiama Gitahi will be talking about the “Impact of COVID -19 on Education”.

The link for this discussion is (ntv.nation.co.ke/live). Tune in for this eye-opening discussion with Wamban Kwach Ratego and Rahman Mohammed Lutfur.

The Office of Career Services is working with different industry partners to expose students to real life work experience. Some of the industry partners the Office has partnered with for Industrial Visits include Unilever Kenya Ltd, Davis and Shirtliff, Huawei Technology Company and BAT Kenya Ltd among others.

Close university-industry collaboration is a win-win situation. The industry will gain from qualified expertise with up-to-date knowledge and create a network with academia. The University will gain evidence-based knowledge and create networks with industry partners. The student will finalise on his/her degree and gain practical work experience that is tied to research.

For university-industry linkages to be fostered, then universities must invest heavily in Research and Development not forgetting capacity building of budding researchers to build a critical mass of competent and highly skilled researchers.

Mr. David Wekesa, Chief ICT Officer at the ICT Centre in charge administration of the Central College Websites on Friday May 11, 2020 hosted an online meeting for central web champions. Mr. Wekesa made a presentation in which he highlighted three major parameters that need to be taken into consideration by the web champions namely Presence, Transparency and Impact.

Mr. Wekesa noted that most Web Champions have made their websites vibrant and urged every champion to continue seeking innovative ways of creating content. Creation of backlinks, referring domains and cleaning up of Google Scholar accounts were also highlighted as major activities that each champion should engage in to increase the web ranking of the University of Nairobi.

Some of the creative recommendations given on how to harvest website content include;

1. Research from local newspapers – rewrite stories that have appeared on the local newspapers about UoN
2. Blogs on COVID-19- Rewrite stories on COVID-19 that are relevant for respective departments
3. Updates from the Corporate office can also be converted into stories
4. Feature on issues that touch on your department or field
5. Profile members in your departments through writing of inspiring stories that spread hope
6. Sell your department to stakeholders. What’s your department’s story? What are your achievements?
7. Go back to archives and share something interesting like throwback photos
8. Rewrite stories on how COVID-19 is affecting your field or department.
9. On social medial, look at posts that are linked to credible websites and are relevant to your department or the university in general and come up with articles.

The Office of Career Services will tap on these recommendations to continue generating creative content for its website.

In partnership with the Academic Division of the University of Nairobi (Admissions Office and Privately Sponsored students section), Kenya Universities and Colleges and Central Placement Services (KUCCPS) and Higher Education Loans Board (HELP) the Office of Career Services continues to support existing and incoming students for selection of the best courses to pursue in the University. The Office also sends the Students Brand Ambassadors in High School for career talks. The Office has visited Lenana School, Jamhuri High School, Mangu High School, Loreto Convent Girls Limuru, Thika High School and Nairobi Schools among others and hosted Kerugoya Girls and Kiiru Boys, among others.

High school students and those aspiring to join University are welcome to talk to us on career advice.

The Office of Career Services is working with different industry partners to expose students to real life work experience. Some of the industry partners the Office has partnered with for Industrial Visits include Unilever Kenya Ltd, Davis and Shirtliff, Huawei Technology Company and BAT Kenya Ltd among others.

The aim of the Industrial visits is to expose students to the industry work environment for them to experience practically the knowledge they learn in class. The Career Office welcomes all Colleges and students with suggestions of companies that the Career Office can reach out to for Industrial Visits.

The Office of Career Services has partnered with Fortinet PLC to offer Free Cybersecurity Training to students and staff. 

Click on this link > https://www.fortinet.com/training/cybersecurity-professionals.html?utm_source=pr&utm_campaign=2020-q2-keyword

Once you click on get started you have the option to review the courses you want to attempt. Once you are ready select public login and register to start.

Fortinet  secures the largest enterprise, service provider, and government organizations around the world. Fortinet ranks number one in the most security appliances shipped worldwide and more than 450,000 customers trust Fortinet to protect their businesses. Fortinet is the only security leader to develop and build custom security processing unit (SPU) technology.  Fortinet FortiGuard Labs uses one of the most effective and proven artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems.  Fortinet is committed to cybersecurity innovation and excellence.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, most organizations have sought different ways of business continuity. The University of Nairobi has been on the forefront in research in different capacities and online teaching and learning.

In his address to staff and students on May 8, 2020, the Vice Chancellor stated that, “I note with appreciation that our faculty, guided by our philosophy for community service, have developed more than 80 concept proposals and more than 60 interventions for covid-19 response since February 2020. These include vaccine Development, community outreach, food security, ventilator fabrication, Sustainable urban mobility, Humanitarian and development interventions, Education and rapid response, rapid response to Fiscal and Economic implications, Poverty, psychosocial support, victims and conflicts among others. “

On online teaching and learning, the Vice Chancellor announced that over 5500 virtual classes have taken place and are still going on. Prof. Kiama mentioned the efforts of staff, students and partnership with network service providers that has made this possible.

Prof. Kiama revealed that the senate has approved online examination and procedure noting that students with special needs and disadvantaged groups will be dealt with on a case to case basis within the department level.

He said, “As a World Class university all our examination guidelines and procedures have been benchmarked against the global best practice and we shall continue to ensure that they are reliable, consistent and of integrity.

We have also made consultations with the stakeholders including Professional bodies and regulators. I would wish to applaud the Council for legal Education and Commission for University Education who in recognition of the prevailing circumstances and formidable effects of Covid-19, acknowledge the need to continue teaching and learning using technology and maintaining standards and quality.”

The VC also highlighted that the the Office of Career Services will in collaboration with partners hold a virtual career fair 2020 soon. He noted that the office continues to facilitate students with opportunities for internship and employment using online platforms.

The Vice Chancellor concluded by assuring the university stakeholders of the management’s commitment to its core mandate of teaching and learning and ensuring that the University produces  holistic individuals.

The petroleum industry is broadly divided into three segments namely: upstream (exploration and production), mid-stream (storage, refining and transportation) and downstream (supply and distribution).

The oil and gas industry offers very exciting career opportunities for graduates from a wide range of disciplines. Working in this sector is associated with hard working conditions and highly intense shifts but it is also popular for high salaries and use of cutting-edge technologies.

Some of the top careers in the oil and gas industry include:

1. Petroleum Engineer –  involved in almost all stages of oil and gas field assessment, development and production.
2. Energy Engineer – involved in the production of energy through natural resources, such as the extraction of oil and gas, or from renewable sources of energy, such as biofuels, hydro, wind and solar power.
3. A geoscientist (geophysicist, geologist, geochemist, hydrogeologist or sedimentologist) is employed for interpreting geophysical, geochemical and geological data to develop models for discovering commercially viable reserves of natural resources, such as oil, gas, minerals and water.
4. Engineering geologist – Assesses natural conditions, such as geological risks and deals with factors that could affect engineering works.
5. Hydrographic surveyor –  usually work onboard survey ships and platforms for measuring and mapping underwater surfaces and studying the morphology of the seabed.
6. Mining engineer – ensures the efficient development of mines and other surface and underground operations. Mining engineers are involved at all stages of a project
7. Mudlogger – monitors drilling activity, recording information about the well status during the extraction of oil or gas.

Additional careers in the oil and gas industry include: Offshore Technicians, Barge Masters, Superintendents, Deck Crew, Engineers, Riggers, Safety Officers, Rig Managers, Offshore Installation Managers, Senior Subsea Supervisors, Deepwater Drillers, Assistant Drillers, Drilling Engineers, Dynamic Positioning Operators, Electronic Technicians, Electricians, Mechanics, Civil Engineer, Project Managers, Process Engineers, Construction Managers, Reservoir Engineers, Facility Engineers, Lead Pipeline Engineers, Lead Piping Engineer, Piping Designer, Inspectors, Procurement Officers, Field Engineers, Project Engineers, Cost Estimator, Logistic Engineer and Lead Electrical Engineers among others.

More career options for students in all Colleges will be posted on the Office of Career Services website.

The University of Nairobi multidisciplinary team of engineers and doctors have developed a home grown portable ventilator that will reduce the cost of the current ventilators by nearly  90% .

Speaking during a demonstration session by the lead engineers and doctors, Prof. Stephen Kiama, the University of Nairobi Vice Chancellor, congratulated the team for the hardwork put in place to ensure that the low cost portable ventilator comes to life. “This demonstrates our value of care. We care for Kenyans”, he said. He added that once the machine is deployed, it will go along way in helping Kenyans with many respiratory problems long after the COVID19 is gone.

Built using an open source software from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and having secured Food and Drugs Association approvals, the locally manufactured ventilator should have an easy time getting KEBS approvals and being deployed to help patients with breathing difficulties. The ventilator which is to use and with digital inputs and LCD display has reconfigurable pressure for adults and children. It is adaptable to multiple power sources, including solar power and hence can be used in remote locations without electricity.

According to Prof. Jackson Mbuthia,  Dean, School of Engineering, the main advantage of the UoN ventilator over the existing commercial ventilators is the biometric and data communication component with an external data storage. “The data collected can be used for further research in both engineering and medical fields. This will enable data analytics and big data modelling of patient records to be used for further research,” he said. The machine incorporates smart intelligence and hence can be operated by health professionals while far from their patients. Prof. Mbuthis is foreseeing a day when Kenyans with breathing difficulties will be able to use the ventilators in their households as they wait for the arrival of ambulances and health professionals.

Prof. Fredrick Were, former Dean, School of Medicine and former Principal, College of Health Sciences, opined that such a machine will go a long way in helping health professionals save lives. Many patients die in Ambulance while on their way to hospitals due to the manual resuscitation by health professionals. “This ventilator will go a long way in saving many lives as it gets used in ambulances”, he said.

The production team is seeking financing to enable them to move to the production model.

The production team include: Dr. Peter Akuon (EIE) Team Leader, Prof. J. M. Mbuthia, Co-Lead, IoT Laboratory, University of Nairobi, Prof. Fredrick Were, Medical Doctor, Respirator Expert, UoN Medical School, Dr. Ernest Odhiambo, from Mechanical Engineering, Davies Segera, from Electronic Engineering, Benson Onyango, from Electrical Engineering, Kinyua Wachira and Faris Abdulrahman from Electronic Engineering.

CPS International, an international research firm in a report titled ‘State of Graduate Employability in Kenya’ has ranked the University of Nairobi as the top institution of higher learning preferred by employers. This study was carried out within a period of three months from November 2019. The research also reveals that UoN releases the largest number of graduates annually to the Kenyan job market.

The report reveals that 26.8 per cent of UoN continuing students are employed nationally. Kenyatta University follows closely with 21.3 per cent index score, Moi University 18.1 per cent, Mt. Kenya University 16.5 per cent and Jomo Kenyatta University at 15.2 per cent.

Maseno University at 13.6 per cent, Egerton University 13.5 per cent, Technical University of Kenya 8.4 per cent, Masinde Muliro University 7.1 per cent and USIU with 6 per cent.

Working students index score

The University of Nairobi also topped with most students employed while still enrolled in their studies with 26.8 per cent of the students in self-employment or formal employment. Kenyatta University follows closely with 21.3 per cent, Moi University with 18.1 per cent, JKUAT with 15.2 per cent and Maseno University with 13.6 per cent

Employable graduates

The study findings revealed that UoN graduates are the most employable with an employability index of 38.6 per cent, followed by KU at 30 per cent, Moi University at 25.1 per cent, JKUAT at 19.8 per cent, Egerton 18.3 per cent, Maseno 18.1 per cent, Mt. Kenya University at 17.1 per cent, Technical University of Kenya at 10.2 per cent, Masinde Muliro University at 6.9 per cent and USIU with 6.2 per cent.

Ranking of Skills and Competencies

Communication skills were ranked top on the list of vital skills at 71.6 per cent by Universities. Other top ten skills include by basic skills (68.66 per cent), decision-making skills (67.16 per cent), sector-specific skills (67.66 per cent), and team-work skills (44.78). in addition, analytical and problem-solving skills (73.28 per cent), right work-life attitude (38.81 per cent), ability to adapt and act in new situations (32.84 per cent), planning and organisation skills (28.36 per cent) and foreign language skills as the tenth at (4.48 per cent).

The reputation and ranking of a university affects the graduates’ employability as indicated by 75 per cent of Universities that took part in this study. However, 30 per cent of administrators in surveyed universities disagree with this.