History of the Technical University of Kenya
- University News
The Technical University of Kenya shares history with the development of the first three higher education institutions in East Africa. The elevation of Makerere Institute to College of the University of London in 1949, led to the establishment of the Royal Technical College (RTC) in Nairobi which was approved and construction started on 25th January 1952 and establishment of Dar es Salaam University College in 1961.
The Kenya Polytechnic was registered by the Ministry of Education as a post-secondary educational institution on 18th January 1967.Over the years, the Polytechnic experienced great expansion in student enrollment, diversity of academic programmes and in general scope of operations. From its founding,The Kenya Polytechnic quickly established itself as a center of excellence in the training of middle level manpower for Kenya and other East African countries.
The Kenya Polytechnic has been established with the principal objective to train largely in the technical fields, especially, architecture, surveying and planning. The training in these fields would essentially be supported by programmes in the sciences, especially Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. From this,the scope of the subjects offered at the Polytechnic was expanded to include other vocational subjects such as business Studies and Management, Hospitality and Hotel Management, Health Sciences and Technology, Design and Printing ,general liberal studies were also introduced.
In 2005, the Government of Kenya launched the Sessional Paper that provided for upgrading of national polytechnics to offer degree programmes in their areas of expertise. The upgrading was under the special provision that the polytechnics would however continue to offer their traditional tertiary programmes at the Diploma level and to continue with the training of middle level manpower.
The process of upgrading the Polytechnic was initiated by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry formed a committee to oversee this process and decided that the best way forward in establishment of the institution as a degree awarding institution was through the establishment of the institution as a university college.
On 23rd August 2007, the President of the Republic of Kenya signed the Kenya Polytechnic University College Legal Order thereby formally establishing the Kenya Polytechnic University College as a constituent college of the University of Nairobi
In July 2009, the university college had the first batch of the programmes of study approved by Senate at the University of Nairobi.
The Technical University of Kenya (TU-K) was established through the elevation of The Kenya Polytechnic University College (KPUC) to full university status. TU-K was established as the first Technical University in Kenya line with the provisions of the proposed Universities Act, 2012.
The technical university is a new type of university in Kenya, whose mandate shall be to offer higher education and research in technology. As an institution of higher learning, TU-K shall offers undergraduate degrees at the Bachelor’s level. In this respect it will be noted that in the education of technical personnel at the university level, institutions of higher learning in Kenya have consistently over the years only focused on the training of professionals at the level of engineers,architects, surveyors, planners, and estate managers.
Refernce : TUK webpage