Admissions News

CUK Gets CUE’s Nod to Offer BSc Network Engineering and Cybersecurity. In a significant stride towards advancing the world of technology and education, the Commission for University Education (CUE) officials visited The Co-operative University of Kenya (CUK) on October 19, 2023. Their visit was not just another routine audit inspection; it marked the green light for launching an exciting new academic programme in the School of Computing and Mathematics (SCM), the BSc Network Engineering and Cybersecurity. The CUE’s thorough inspection yielded a promising verdict: CUK met and exceeded the minimum threshold to mount this groundbreaking program. This achievement reflects the university’s dedication to staying at the forefront of technological education and preparing students for the challenges of the digital age. The BSc Network Engineering and Cybersecurity programme, which is one-of-a-kind, is poised to be a game-changer in networking and cybersecurity education. The programme is designed to efficiently produce the next generation of network engineers equipped with diverse skills, including designing, developing, documenting, and deploying different kinds of networks. The program covers a broad spectrum of networks, ranging from Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN) to Wireless Networks, as well as Industry Standard Cybersecurity competencies. Students enrolled in this program will be exposed to a strong foundation in network planning and security systems through a comprehensive and well-thought-out curriculum that benefits from the input of accomplished academic and industry experts. It is designed to include theoretical knowledge and hands-on practical experience, ensuring that graduates are well-prepared for the challenges they’ll face in the real world. As a result, they will have the skills and knowledge required to excel in various career paths within the IT and cybersecurity sectors. This program will empower students to become ideal network and security experts by seamlessly integrating cybersecurity skills. It’s not just about creating networks but defending them in an increasingly complex digital landscape. Graduates from the BSc Network Engineering and Cybersecurity program at CUK will find themselves in high demand in the labor market. Equipped with a broad skill set, they can pursue careers as Network Engineers, IT managers, Cybersecurity specialists, and much more. The industry’s ever-increasing need for qualified professionals in these fields ensures a promising future for program graduates. To guarantee the quality of education and the success of this groundbreaking program, CUK boasts a solid and dedicated faculty. These experienced professionals will impart knowledge, provide mentorship, and guide students through their academic journey. The CUE’s approval and support, combined with the university’s commitment to excellence, have set the stage for CUK’s BSc Network Engineering and Cybersecurity program. This program represents an exciting opportunity for students to be part of an innovative and dynamic field, shaping the future of network engineering and cybersecurity. As CUK prepares to launch this program, it marks a significant step forward in the ever-evolving world of technology and education. The BSc Network Engineering and Cybersecurity program is more than just a degree; it’s a gateway to a world of possibilities where the next generation of Network Engineers and Cybersecurity experts will thrive. Dr. Shem Mbandu Angolo, Ph.D. Dean School of Computing and Mathematics & Senior Lecturer Department of Computer Science and Information Technology School of Computing and Mathematics The Co-operative University of Kenya

By Dr. Shem Mbandu and Meshack Ngangi The Co-operative University of Kenya’s Google Development Student Club (GDSC) has been at the helm of the clubs and societies for the last two years, owing to the insightful mentorship of Dr. Shem Mbandu and the leadership of the immediate former Lead, Andrew Nderitu. This indomitable group of like-minded tech-savvy students has seen growth and achievement of tremendous milestones through relentless dedication by members and efficient leadership that has earned admiration across the institution and won unwavering support from the University’s administration. A new era has downed for the GDSC, with Ms. Ruth Kwara assuming the noble role of GDSC Lead at The Co-operative University of Kenya. This opportunity opened after the tenure of Andrew Nderitu ended this year in July; now, Ms. Kwara takes over the Club’s Lead from August 2023 through July 2024. The big question is whether Kwara will fit in Andrew’s shoes or whether Andrew’s shoes will be small for her. Time will remain the ultimate judge to deliver this verdict and provide an answer to this colossal interrogation. Ms. Ruth Kwara, a student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at The Co-operative University of Kenya and the current GDSC Lead at the University, the new appointee to succeed Andrew Nderitu. Great expectations constitute the front face for Ms. Kwara as the new GDSC Lead. Her efforts in facilitating and playing a pivotal role in fostering technical education and practical skills development among GDSC Members is a constant and paramount aspect of her leadership. Her primary responsibilities include organizing, coordinating, and hosting technical workshops that enrich student members’ knowledge of emerging technologies. Andrew Nderitu (front centre) interacts with GDSC Members after a training workshop on MongoDB at The Co-operative University of Kenya’s main campus, Karen – Nairobi, on Friday, March 31, 2023. The fundamental purpose of these workshops is to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge, practical application, and real-life utilization of technological skills in solving world challenges across all fields. Also, the GDSC training sessions seek to provide students with hands-on experience, valuable insights, and exposure to the rapidly evolving tech industry. Implementing Google Developer Student Club’s programmes at The Co-operative University of Kenya is poised to benefit the student community that spans Computing and Mathematics, Co-operative and Community Development, Business, and Economics faculties. These programs will equip students with the skills, knowledge, and networking opportunities necessary to thrive in the competitive job market. By participating in GDSC activities, students will gain exposure to real-world projects, industry trends, and collaboration with peers who share their passion for technology. Ms. Kwara assumes the prominent role of GDSC Lead from Andrew Nderitu, who, throughout his leadership tenure, effected significant achievements for the Club and at an individual level. Under his stewardship, the GDSC community at The Co-operative University of Kenya (CUK) benefitted magnanimously from numerous Google events that he organized. Andrew’s fervent and effortless dedication to fostering a thriving tech community on campus has been commendable. As a University, we take pride in the notable achievement during Andrew Nderitu’s time as GDSC Lead at CUK, where he steered his team’s victorious participation in the UNESCO INDIA – AFRICA Hackathon, emerging the best in their Category. This coordinated milestone showcased the team’s exceptional, innovative skills and solution-oriented thinking in the tech and development sphere. Andrew Nderitu (Centre), the exiting GDSC Lead at CUK, poses for a photo with his victorious team receiving their UNESCO INDIA AFRICA HACKATHON 2022 Award at Gautam Buddha University in India on November 25, 2022. Ink on paper cannot conclusively pen down the outstanding contributions of Andrew Nderitu as the immediate former GDSC Lead at CUK. This iconic student and super Lead, Andrew Nderitu, was awarded the Google Developers Student Club’s Impact Amplifier Award, a testament to his remarkable impact as the GDSC Lead at CUK. His commitment to empowering students and achieving excellence in the tech community has left a lasting and irrefutable legacy, and his contributions will continue to inspire and benefit the University’s future generations. We, the GDSC members at The Co-operative University of Kenya, warmly congratulate Ruth Kwara on her appointment as GDSC Lead. We firmly believe her dedication, leadership, and enthusiasm for technology education will positively impact the CUK student fraternity. We wish her a successful and rewarding tenure as she guides students on their journey to becoming proficient and sought-after professionals in technology.

By Meshack Ngangi The battle for supremacy and retaining victory crown at the Kenya Universities Performing Arts Association (KUPAA) 2023 Drama, Beauty Pageantry, and Film Festivals by The Co-operative University of Kenya’s Metropolitans Drama Club did not end at the Regional level but ensued to the National competitions held at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri between 3rd and 10th November 2023. This iconic Festival marked the 5th series since the organization KUPAA initiated the competitions in the Kenyan Universities and attracted over 3,000 students from 40 Universities in the country. The Metropolitans Drama Club performs the Kiswahili Play “Hali Tete” at KUPAA National Drama, Beauty Pageantry, and Film Festivals at the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri on Thursday, 9th November 2023. This year’s KUPAA Festivals were themed “Supporting Economic Transformation through Performing Arts” under the hashtag “.” The theme highlighted the core of the Government’s agenda of empowering Youth in Kenya through leveraging talents and abilities beyond the classroom setting. KUPAA’s mandate, which is to improve the standing of Kenya’s performing and visual arts, music, and film industry through a commitment to developing work of the highest quality and promoting music, theatre, visual arts, and film, was the spearheading spirit behind the resounding success of this event. The participation of CUK students at the national Festivals organized by KUPAA resonated with the University’s vision of becoming a University of excellence in education, research, innovation, and co-operative training that traverses the classroom confines but seeks to nurture all-rounded graduates, competent enough to suit the contemporary world. The University utterly recognizes the essence and centrality of harnessing learners’ talents for an empowered society in pursuit of socio-economic transformation. The CUK’s Metropolitans Drama Club members in action during the 5th KUPAA National Drama, Beauty Pageantry, and Film Festivals held at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri. Our University Drama Club undertook and competed on three items in different performing arts genres: a dramatized African play (Mbaitu Nimukuly’a), a Kiswahili Play (Hali Tete), and a Puppetry. These creative works of art performed differently, with the dramatized African praise poetry, acted by Lucas Kalonzo, scooped the 1st runners-up, followed by the Kiswahili play emerging the 2nd runners-up and puppetry garnering the 3rd runners-up position in the stiffly competitive national KUPAA Festivals. Nonetheless, the University’s Metropolitans Drama Club’s Hali Tete, under the short film category, won several awards as the short film with the best sound design and edited short film. Also, Abdulaziz Dima, a member of the Drama Club and a first-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Finance at CUK, won the best actor award under the short film category. The University takes pride in the incredible results posted by The Metropolitans at the National Drama Festivals and pledges support to all registered student clubs.

By Meshack Ngangi.This year presented an extraordinary turn of events during the inauguration of our three-day Annual Career and Innovation Week 2024, which was celebrated under the theme “Leveraging on Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Careers of the Future.”   As an institution of higher learning, The Co-operative University of Kenya has been deliberate and particular with innovations by providing mentorship to our student innovators who have in the past competed and excelled on global forums, including the Huawei ICT Competition, which is held annually, funded, and hosted by Huawei ICT Academy. In commemorating this annual event, the University had the pleasure to host H.E. Pastor Dr. Dorcas Rigathi, E.G.H., as the Chief Guest during the official opening of the 2024 Career and Innovation Week on 19th March 2024. The Chief Guest, H.E. Pastor Dr. Dorcas Rigathi, E.G.H., tours an innovation exhibition booth on Thermoplastic Road Signs during the official opening ceremony of the 3rd Career and Innovation Week 2024 on 19th March 2024 at our Main Campus, Karen-Nairobi. The Chief Guest toured different innovations exhibited by our students and high school students from Oloolaiser High School. This informed the University’s intent behind engaging high school participation during our annual career and innovation fair. In her remarks, H.E. Pastor Dorcas reiterated the transformative power that innovation and entrepreneurship hold in shaping our society and propelling our nation forward. The Chief Guest challenged The Co-operative University of Kenya to harness the potential of the rapidly evolving technological advancements and generate innovative processes that will reshape and re-imagine Kenya’s Co-operative Movement, which is a stronghold pillar supporting the economy. H.E. Pastor Dr. Dorcas Rigathi, E.G.H., delivers her official opening address during the 3rd Career and Innovation Week 2024 on 19th March 2024 at our Main Campus, Karen-Nairobi. Further, H.E. Pastor Dorcas recognized the University’s great initiatives it continues to make. She outlined that the showcased innovations are the seeds sown and foreseen to sprout into creative entrepreneurial enterprises. The Chief Guest’s remarks were a testament to the institution’s broad objective and commitment to excellence in education and research that is geared towards nurturing the future generation of leaders, strategic thinkers, and creative innovators who will utilize technological mechanisms to spur Kenya’s economic growth and prosperity. The dynamic career and entrepreneurship landscape of the 21st century faces an unprecedented future with the invention of disruptive technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). However, students in higher education institutions must learn how to convert these threatening technologies, which bring job insecurity, into opportunities through innovations that create more career avenues. Dr. Jeremy Bundi, the University Council Chairperson, expressed the pride the institution has in the achievements of being an industry leader that has trailblazed the way for the country’s co-operative movement since independence in 1952 and development milestones attained associated with knowledge and skill nurturing learners receive for career advancement. The Chairperson of the University Council Dr. Jeremy Bundi gives his remarks during the 3rd Career and Innovation Week 2024 official opening ceremony on 19th March 2024 at our Main Campus, Karen-Nairobi. “The skills we impart in our various programmes are of utmost importance in spurring the much-desired economic growth across every sector of the economy in Kenya, Africa, and beyond since we have integrated the fundamental tenets of the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC), which are key to delivering the Government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA),” Dr. Jeremy. Our Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kamau Ngamau, PhD, E.B.S., insisted that the need to infuse innovation and technology for entrepreneurship as foundational elements the University has particularly endeavoured to ensure it has met its mandate as a public institution that provides education and training with an emphasis on co-operative development. Our Vice Chancellor Prof. Kamau Ngamau, PhD., E.B.S., addresses the attendees of the 3rd Career and Innovation Week 2024 official opening ceremony on 19th March 2024 at our Main Campus, Karen-Nairobi. In his speech, Prof. Ngamau underscored that the University’s five-year Strategic Plan 2022-2027 has placed a lot of emphasis on our specialized mandate, which has clearly visible fruits both for our institution and for the co-operative sector. This year’s annual Career and Innovation Week was a turn-about calendar activity that brought together more than 1,000 high school students and featured over ten (10) innovators with different incubation projects aimed at bringing sustainable solutions to problems facing Kenyan  society and transforming entrepreneurship to a more advanced tech-aligned orientation. The three-day event saw alums of The Co-operative University of Kenya led by the alum association chairperson Pauline Ngari, Robinson Maina, and Margaret Kamau turn up to mentor students on various angles of career growth. The Chief Guest of the 3rd Career and Innovation Week 2024, H.E. Pastor Dr. Dorcas Rigathi, EGH, interacts with our students during the official opening ceremony on 19th March 2024 at our Main Campus, Karen-Nairobi.