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In celebration of Customer Service Week 2024, The Co-operative University of Kenya Library is at the forefront, showcasing its commitment to serving students and visitors with excellence. This year’s theme, “ABOVE & BEYOND,” resonates deeply with the university community as the library staff goes above and beyond to ensure that everyone accessing library services feels valued and supported.   Throughout the week, students and visitors have experienced firsthand the warm and attentive service provided by the library team. As part of the activities, staff assisted patrons with various services, including borrowing and returning books, accessing e-resources, and navigating the Library’s extensive database. These interactions highlight the Library’s role not just as a center of knowledge but as a space where students can find personalized guidance and support in their academic journey. Students and guests appreciated the efficiency and professionalism displayed by the team, with many taking the opportunity to commend the Library’s efforts in enhancing their overall academic experience.   The Customer Service Week activities are aimed at reinforcing the Library’s dedication to creating a welcoming environment for learning, research, and discovery. The Library Team has shown that they are not only custodians of books but also champions of customer satisfaction. Their enthusiasm and willingness to serve makes the Library a key pillar in the university’s broader commitment to quality education and student success.   Beyond the Customer Service Week, the library remains a hub of activity, emphasizing the importance of service excellence in the academic setting. Students are encouraged to take part in the events scheduled throughout the semester and to share their experiences as part of the university’s effort to continually improve and celebrate outstanding service delivery.   HAPPY CUSTOMER SERVICE WEEK 2024!

The University Council chaired by Dr. Jeremy Bundi and the University Management board retreated for a workshop themed Building a Resilient and Sustainable University on 25-27 March 2024. The event held in Nakuru county sought to tackle the following areas of interest to the university: Understanding the Current University Education Landscape; Promoting Financial Resilience; Engaging Stakeholders and Partnerships; and CUK Productivity measurement and improvement. Prof. A. Njuguna one of the facilitators sensitized the team on issues of resource mobilization frameworks for public universities/ Corporate and Industry Engagement as a catalyst for financial growth and sustainability and Fostering partnerships with external stakeholders(Industry, philanthropic organizations, alumni networks/international agencies). He went on to further emphasize the roles and responsibilities of the Council in Financial Management. John Mose also gave an overview of the resource mobilization within government systems tackling the critical topic of lobbying within the government budget cycles. Ms. Jane Maina from the National Productivity and Competitiveness Centre (NPCC) also sensitized the members on the CUK Productivity Mainstreaming Framework which seeks to shift the focus from just achieving the set Performance Contracting targets towards measuring the output/outcomes against the resources allocated to activity and tasks. Speaking at the closing ceremony the Chairperson of the University Council indicated that the university was on the right track in ensuring that it remains resilient and sustainable appreciating the achievements that the University Management Board led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof Kamau Ngamau has been able to achieve. He noted that more needs to be done and that the Council was very ready to provide the necessary support to assist the university attain all the commitments made not just in the 2023/2024 Performance Contracting Cycle but also as aspired in the Strategic Plan 2022-2027. He also welcomed two council members Ms. Peris Onsarigo and Mr. John Kihara. The Vice-Chancellor on his part appreciated the guidance and wise counsel the University Council continues to provide, noting that a lot of changes are happening in the higher education sector and it is of paramount importance that as an organization we keep track of this changes.  

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 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. 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 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. 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.

By Meshack Ngangi The Co-operative University of Kenya’s Kenya Rural Transformation Centres Digital Platform (KRTCDP) has taken quite a drastic cause after the project acquired a modern technological server that is purposely intended to digitalise the farmers’ productivity and strengthen the cooperatives in the pilot areas of Nakuru, Narok, and Baringo counties.   The server acquisition is an attestation to the progressive strides the University and the project implementation partners have taken in realising the funding goals of the project’s financier, the African Development Bank (AfDB).   This novel technological gadget has the capacity for sustainable and enhanced farmer connectivity, boosting farmer cooperatives, eliminating the perpetual risks of agricultural market cartels, and supporting the economic empowerment of the farmers. The University’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kamau Ngamau, speaking at the server handing over function, reiterated that the institution intends to leverage the robust potential of this technological infrastructure for streamlined and smooth farmer connectivity and seamless interactions between various stakeholders within the target value chains.    Through this noble programme and the possibilities presented by the digital server, smallholder farmers can now access crucial agricultural services and inputs through an integrated system that incorporates agro-suppliers, produce markets, and integral public services from the government.   Prof. Ngamau reaffirmed the KRTCDP’s projected potential in realising the government’s Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). The result of this initiative coincides with the BETA tenets of an economically empowered and food-secure nation through collaborations between cooperative movements in key value chains such as Irish potatoes, dairy farming, and maize. The server goes a long way in helping farmers to utilise mobile technology information superhighway through smartphone-enabled systems and programmes. They will have real-time access to weather updates from the meteorological department and critical market information, which is paramount for agricultural decision-making and taking advantage of seasonal changes for optimised production.   The server goes a long way in helping farmers to utilise mobile technology information superhighway through smartphone-enabled systems and programmes. They will have real-time access to weather updates from the meteorological department and critical market information, which is paramount for agricultural decision-making and taking advantage of seasonal changes for optimised production.   At the core of this AfDB’s Fund for Africa Private Sector Assistance (FAPA) funded KRTCDP project lies the objectives of enhanced productivity, profitability, and sustainability within farmer cooperatives, hence fortifying and bringing a ripple effect in the entire agricultural sector. The beneficiaries of this initiative comprise a multi-stakeholder base, including agricultural farmer cooperatives, banking sector players such as the Co-operative Bank of Kenya, development partners, government agencies, and researchers. Elaborating on the server’s suited technical capabilities, Prof. Isaac Nyamongo, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academic Co-operative Development Research and Innovation (ACDRI), expressed that it has embedded dual Intel Xenon Platinum modern-tech processors.   Additionally, Prof. Nyamongo explained that the server is fitted with 24 hard drives with enhanced data storage capabilities tailored to the dynamic KRTCDP project’s particular needs and the University’s digital network.