The Embassy of France in Kenya on Thursday launched a new bilateral project dubbed “Upgrading Diplomas for Industry Purposes” at the Technical University of Kenya in Nairobi.
The embassy said the project will involve a workshop on embedded computing and industrial automation for the training of 36 trainers and technicians of TUK and the Technical University of Mombasa, as well as four polytechnics in the Coast, Kabete, Kisumu and Nyeri.
Experts from the Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT) Cachan, of Paris South University-UPSaclay, one of leading French university will participate, the mission said in a statement.
The project is one of the activities of cooperation agreed on in the French-Kenyan roadmap on university partnership, innovation, research and TVET, which was signed in March this year during President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to Kenya.
The initiative seeks to modernize some diploma curricula of TU-K and TUM and improve the employability of those who will get those upgraded diplomas, through the introduction “of a pedagogy oriented towards the realization of projects and innovation, in partnership with industries” for two years, starting from 2019 to 2022.
“The activities of the project will notably include training (either in Kenya or in France) for the staff of TU-K and TUM and four polytechnics, in particular in the fields of electrical, mechanical and biomedical engineering, audits of curricula, organization of activities with industries and donations of equipment,” the embassy said.
TU-K Vice-Chancellor Prof Francis Aduol said the students who will be selected study their masters in France, where they will get practical exposure to their courses.
French Ambassador to Nairobi Aline Kuster- Meneger said she is committed to ensuring more students and projects are sponsored.
During President Macron’s visit, among the MoUs signed was scientific cooperation between the French Research Institute in Kenya and the Ministry of Education.
There was the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on common research, initial and executive education and incubation in the fields of agribusiness and other sectors between Audencia Business School (Nantes) and United States International University-Africa (USIU), Nairobi.
Also signed was an agreement on mobility of students and staff between Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees and Business School (Paris) and Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA).
