THE KENYA POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

SPEECH BY

PROF. FRANCIS W. O. ADUOL

PRINCIPAL, THE KENYA POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

ON THE OCCASION OF THE GRADUATION CEREMONY

16th October 2009

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 The Chancellor of University of Nairobi, Dr. Joseph B. Wanjui;

 The Chairman of the Kenya Polytechnic University College Council, Prof. Francis J. Gichaga;
 The Chairman of University of Nairobi Council, Mr. John Simba;
 The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nairobi, Prof. George Magoha;
 The Representative of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Mme.
Agnes Sila;
 Members of the Kenya Polytechnic University College Council;
 Members of the University of Nairobi Management Board;
 Staff of the Kenya Polytechnic University College;
 Students of the Kenya Polytechnic University College;
 Graduands;
 Parents, Guardians, and Sponsors of Students;
 Distinguished guests;
 Ladies and gentlemen!

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Mr. Chancellor, Sir!

First of all, on my own behalf and that of the entire fraternity of the Kenya Polytechnic University
College I would like to thank you for finding time to preside over this inaugural graduation ceremony
of the Kenya Polytechnic University College. We are indeed most excited about this, least of all,
from the fact that this is the first time a graduation ceremony is being presided over at this great
national institution by a Chancellor. We want especially to record our appreciation for the fact that
when we approached you a few weeks ago together with the Vice-Chancellor to come and officiate
at this function you not only immediately granted us audience, but you also promptly gave us a date
when you would be available to be preside over this function.

Mr. Chancellor, Sir!

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The Kenya Polytechnic traces its roots to the early 1960’s when it was established by the then
colonial government to train technicians and technologists. The training at the Polytechnic was
aimed at producing those with special strength in hands-on abilities and who were ready to join the
world of work without need for much further training. Over the years the institution was seen as the
premiere institution in Kenya for the training of technicians and technologists and in this, acquired a
highly respected reputation among employers and the general public. Today the array of subjects
covered by the institution range from engineering and architecture to business studies, applied and
health sciences to international relations and librarianship, computer and information technologies
to printing and design.

The elevation of the Kenya Polytechnic to the status of a university college is a major milestone in
the life of this institution. The university status has given the institution the powers to grant
degrees, albeit currently under the University of Nairobi. Traditionally, university education tends to
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be significantly different from that at the Polytechnic. While the Polytechnic education will typically
put more focus on practical training with the aim to impart immediately applicable skills, university
education on the other hand must put great emphasis on theoretical, conceptual, and philosophical
training. With the elevation of the Polytechnic to university status, the big question in the minds of
those who have been associated with the Polytechnic is, whether the institution will remain the
Polytechnic that most have known it to be or whether it will embrace fully the character of a
university at the expense of its well established polytechnic character.

A careful look at the Legal Order that established the Kenya Polytechnic University College will
reveal that the institution has been established to function both as a polytechnic and a university at
the same time. The Kenya Polytechnic University College has been established with the clear
mandate that it shall continue with its previous programmes aimed at training the technician at the
Diploma level while at the same time expanding into the degree programmes. The consequence of
this is that the institution will in the main be expected to maintain and even strengthen its
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traditional Diploma programmes on one hand, while on the other hand it shall introduce degree
programmes in most of the areas of study offered at the institution. The meaning of all this is that
the degree programmes are to be built on the current tradition of Diploma programmes. The model
to offer both degrees and traditional technician Diplomas is going to be a unique characteristic of
the Polytechnic in this country.

A unique characteristic of the degrees to be offered by the Polytechnic is that they shall be expected
to be heavily geared towards producing graduates with strong practical and hands-on skills and who
are ready to hit the ground running on joining the world of work. However, as a university, the
institution shall also offer degree programmes which are aimed at producing graduates with
capability for academic depth as to facilitate advanced scientific enquiry. The basic education and
training shall be organised to cover three levels. First, there will be the training of technicians, which
shall generally be concluded with a Diploma in Technology or an equivalent qualification. Secondly,
the college will train technologists, who will typically graduate with the Bachelor of Technology.
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Then there will be scientifically oriented programmes of the type of Bachelor of Engineering,
Bachelor of Architecture, or Bachelor of Science. Each of these levels will be aimed at producing
personnel to cover for a particular cadre of professionals in our economy.

Besides offering programmes at both the Diploma and the degree levels, another unique feature of
the programmes to be offered by the Polytechnic shall be the provision for prior education and
training to be recognised. For instance, those with the qualification of Diploma in Technology can
join the Bachelor of Technology programme in the third year of study, thereby being able to
graduate with the degree just after two years of study. Further, those who already posses the
Bachelor of Technology degree can join the Bachelor of Engineering programme (or an equivalent
degree) in the third year of study, thereby needing just three years to complete the engineering
degree. This structure of upgrading of previous qualifications shall be open to all those who posses
the requisite qualifications obtained not just from the Polytechnic, but also from other institutions
recognised by the Polytechnic and the University of Nairobi.

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Since its upgrading to university college status, the Polytechnic already started on its degree
programmes. In January this year, the first batch of degree students joined the institution to study
for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronic Engineering on one hand and
the Bachelor of Technology in Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technology on the other hand.
All the Bachelor of Engineering students were those admitted through the Joint Admissions Board
from the KCSE 2005 cohort while the Bachelor of Technology students were admitted from those
who had qualified with the Diploma of Technology last year. The second batch of the Bachelor of
Engineering students who were admitted through the Joint Admissions Board from the 2006 KCSE
cohort have just joined the college this September. The other admissions are planned for May 2010
in respect of 2007 KCSE cohort, January 2011 for 2008 KCSE class, and September 2011 for 2009
KCSE class. Parallel with the KCSE candidates, the college shall continue to regularly admit those
with the Diploma qualifications into its degree programmes.

Mr. Chancellor, Sir!

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By the Legal Order establishing the institution, the Kenya Polytechnic is required to have its curricula
approved by the University of Nairobi Senate. I am pleased to report that the University Senate has
recently approved the first set of programmes presented to it by the institution. The University
Senate recently approved curricula for the Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, the Bachelor of Technology in Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technology, and the
Diploma in Technology in Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technology. Several other curricula
are currently being developed and shall soon be presented to the University Senate for
consideration. In this regard I should like to point out that in the preparation of our curricula
considerable effort is being placed in ensuring that our students are given sufficient practical
training consistent with the tradition of the Polytechnic. Further, every effort shall be made to
ensure that the curricula are recognised by the relevant professional bodies.

Mr. Chancellor, Sir!

Today the Polytechnic is one of the largest institutions of higher learning in this country. We have
currently enrolled in this institution some --- students distributed as ---- full-time students and ----
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part time students. Today we are graduating some 2,344 of our students distributed by programme
of study as follows:

Applied Science and Technology – 403

Architecture and the Built Environment – 90
The Arts and Media Technology – 180
Business and Legal Studies – 518
Computing and Information Technologies – 46
Engineering Science and Technology – 487
Health Sciences and Technology – 203
Hospitality and Tourism Management – 143
Liberal and Technology Studies – 262
Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technology Transfer - 16

From this we get a glimpse of the diversity of the areas of study at this institution. The management
of the institution is committed to keeping with the strong tradition of practical training that has
been so well established at this institution over the years, even as we embrace the more abstract
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concepts of a university education. The Kenya Polytechnic University College shall continue to work
closely with industry to ensure that her students continue to acquire practical experience during
their time here in campus. All programmes offered in this institution shall have a session of
industrial attachment during which a student shall be exposed to the real world of work while still in
college.

Mr. Chancellor, Sir

I have been at this institution now as Principal for just a little under one year. I wish take this
opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to the Minister for Higher education, Science and
Technology for appointing me to this position. It has been an exciting and also quite a challenging
eleven months. While the college previously ran smoothly as a Polytechnic I was coming in with the
express assignment to create out of the former institution an institution of university status. Among

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the challenges we faced right at the beginning were: (i) there were some 128 students who took
their KCSE in 2005 and who had been admitted to take their degree programmes in engineering at
the institution and were yet to start their studies, (ii) there were the Diploma in Technology
graduates who expected to be admitted into the degree programme, (iii) there were the staff who
were deeply anxious about their future with the change of status of the institution, and (iv) for the
planned degree programmes new curricula needed to be developed and staff to teach the courses
needed to be sourced urgently.

I would like to report that when I joined this institution I found a dedicated cadre of staff who have
given me full support as I moved on to try to get the institution running under its new status. The
staff took on quite well the transformation of the institution to a university college and gave full
support to the various changes we needed to make to get the institution running. In that period we
have been able to accomplish quite a few tasks that were necessary to implement the objectives of
the new institution at this stage of its development. I would like to report that the staff and students

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of this institution have shown much enthusiasm and interest in the institution as a university
college.

The students in particular have demonstrated their support for the new situation through great
cooperation by the student leadership. The students have exhibited a high level of maturity and
have consistently opted for the route of dialogue in tackling issues. They have demonstrated
exemplary understanding even when the college was not able to find solutions to their problems
immediately. As a demonstration of the students’ corporate social responsibility, the students of
this institution have a fund set a side from their Student Union contributions which they use to
support their colleagues who may be financially disadvantaged to pay fees through a bursary. Over
and above this, the students fund most of their social activities from their own Union contributions.

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Mr. Chancellor, Sir!

The institution however clearly needs a lot of support if it is going to realise the objectives for which
it has been set up. There will be a need for massive input of resources to provide for learning
facilities, not only because of the newly introduced degree programmes, but even just to offer the
traditional Polytechnic programmes at the expected high levels. Over the years the learning facilities
at the institution deteriorated without much as a replacement of obsolete facilities and equipment.
Thus although the Polytechnic has sustained relatively good reputation with employers and the
society in general, it must be pointed out that in many respects our learning facilities are way below
expected standards. Our classrooms and laboratories are already stretched to the limit, especially if
it is considered that in this small space of just 8.1 acres of land we have to carry a total of roughly
10,000 students daily and 700 employees.

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We would like to take this opportunity, to extend our cry to the Government to give this institution
special consideration in her financing programmes if indeed we are to play a realistic role in the
Vision 2030 programmes of this country. We have no doubt that with good support this institution
has the potential to play a pivotal role in the technological development of this country. The
ingredients of a great technological institution are there, but as a people we must be prepared to
put in something in the institution if we want to get the best out of it. We have adopted for
ourselves the vision “To be a top rated university of technology”. We believe that with appropriate
support, this is a realistic vision to aim at.

Mr. Chancellor, Sir!

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I would like to thank the College Council under the Chairmanship of Prof. Francis Gichaga. The
College Council was in fact only inaugurated in May this year, but in the short period that they have
been in existence they have been able to demonstrate considerable seriousness in their guidance of
this institution. The Council has been able to facilitate, with much smoothness, the conversion of
the staff to the employment of the University College from the employment of the Teachers Service
Commission on one hand and from the Board of Governors on the other hand. They are currently in
the process of considering a number of policy documents meant to facilitate the smooth beginning
of this institution as a university college.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the University of Nairobi lead by Vice-Chancellor
Prof George Magoha for the support they have given us. As a young institution on the university
road, we have had to turn to the University of Nairobi as our mother university for support in
logistics and staffing. At the time of my reporting here the Vice-Chancellor was gracious enough to
extend to us, on secondment a number of administrative staff, and for this we are most grateful.
Our degree programmes in engineering would been stranded in many respects if it were not for the

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support we have received from a number of University of Nairobi lecturers who have been teaching
for us on part-time basis. Further, a number of the curricula that we are developing continue to
have strong input from University of Nairobi lecturers, who have generously given their time to
assist us in this respect. Most importantly however, Prof. George Magoha, as Vice-Chancellor has
given us considerable freedom to define the destiny of this institution without undue interference;
we appreciate this with much gratitude.

To our graduands today, on my own behalf and that of the entire fraternity of the Kenya Polytechnic
University College, I would like to extent to you our congratulations. This certainly is a major
milestone in your lives. You have just qualified as experts in your various chosen areas of expertise
and you deserve our fullest congratulations. As has been indicated, we are starting a number of
exciting degree programmes and we would like to invite you to consider coming back to advance on
your studies. We are setting out our programmes with the inbuilt facility to recognise previous
learning and to grant credits to this effect. We trust that many of you will find this exciting and will
make plans to come back one day to continue with your studies.

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Mr. Chancellor, Sir!

Finally, I would like also to take this opportunity to thank so many organisations who have been in
partnership with us in the realisation of the objectives of this institution. I would like to appreciate
in particular the many organisations who over the years have consistently supported us by offering
our students places for industrial attachment. Without these organisations, the practical, hands-on,
experience that the Polytechnic graduates are so famed for would not have been possible. Secondly
I would like to thank the many organisations who have supported us with scholarships and bursaries
to students. In this respect I would like to mention in particular the Rattansi Trust, who over the
years have consistently offered scholarships to our deserving students.

Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen!

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Thank you!

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