Through the “Transforming African Agricultural Universities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s Growth and Development (TAGDev) Program, Egerton University held the 4^th National Forum for Universities, TVETs and Industry Players in the Agricultural Sector on 21 and 22 July 2021 virtually from the Main Campus in Njoro.

Egerton University Council has appointed Professor Mwanarusi Saidi as the Registrar Academic Egerton University effective 16 August 2021 for a period of five years through a competitive process that attracted a large number of applicants from several universities in Kenya. Professor Mwanarusi Saidi is an Associate Professor of Horticulture in the Department of Crops, Horticulture and Soils, Faculty of Agriculture.

The Faculty of Engineering and Technology on Wednesday, 29 September, held a Water in Nexus with Agriculture sensitization meeting at Main Campus in Njoro with lecturers from the Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Education and Community Studies as well as international partners from The Netherlands. 

The Vice-Chancellor Prof Isaac Kibwage, on 1 March 2022, opened the sensitization workshop for universities, TVETs and Research Institutions in the Central Rift Valley Region on Intellectual Property (IP) at Main Campus in Njoro.

Egerton University remains committed to address the knowledge and skills gap in achieving sustainable development. Enhanced collaboration with TVET institutions is important towards provision of knowledge and solutions to underpin the implementation of key national development goals.

A total of 22 participants (Lecturers and tutors) drawn from Njoro Polytechnic, Rift Valley Institute of Science and technology, Dairy Training Institute, Baraka Agricultural College andEgerton universityare attending the training. The inclusion of TVET tutors is key to enhance replicability of the course to a wider audience hence growth to student led businesses beyond university and also inventing totally new products and ideas.

The business readiness course is a program designed by the Agri entrepreneurship Alliance with the support of PBL BioAfrica Project introduces key business skills and knowledge to those already involved in business on a small-scale or who are potential entrepreneurs.  This training course is designed for the university students and surrounding communities of interest. Recently 3 staff of Egerton University undergone the full package in Zambia, in order to put experience to practice the team is proposing to train students and the business community around the University once every month.

The training targets Faculty members, TVET tutors, PhD students, final year students and the community at large. The trainers for this training course are targeting to train 400 final year students, 40 faculty members, 30 TVET tutors and 100 members of the Community in 10 cohorts. The module will approximate 30 – 40 participants per cohort in a duration of 4 days (40 hours) training period.

The training program will provide some of the theoretical basis of teaching approach as well as providing practical guidelines to facilitating ‘experiential learning’ along with exercises and activities that can break the ice and encourage a group of students to build teams and participate fully in the course. They will employ human centered design and problem based learning and key adult learning tools and methods to reduce the lead time between learning of a skill and its practical application to the participants.

Facilitators

1. Dr. Ben Oloo Odhiambo    DAFTEC

2. Victor Kilui Wabwile          AGEC/AGBM

3. Edwin Ondiege                   CDEV