University of Sunderland holds 9th graduation in Kenya

The President of the University of Sunderland, UK, is in Nairobi to officiate the 9th graduation ceremony scheduled for 28th March 2015 at the Kenya School of Government. The graduation ceremony is for University of Sunderland students who have been studying at INtel College, Nairobi, says Mr Alex Macharia Head of Marketing & Corporate Affairs.

He said the University of Sunderland programmes of study run through a collaborative partnership with INtel College in offering higher education opportunities to Kenyans who wish to study locally, as an alternative to travelling abroad for a period of time. In addition to providing increased study opportunities, such transnational education provides capacity building of local staff on new research-informed pedagogies for course delivery.

Both students and staff enjoy access to the latest reading resources through access to UK online library facilities, he said.  “The event is going to be one of celebration as 133 graduands are conferred degrees,” Mr Macharia said. “500 family, friends and other dignitaries will be in attendance including Dr. Vijoo Rattansi, the Chancellor, University of Nairobi. In addition, two full scholarships for the University of Sunderland, in Project Management and Banking will be launched for study at INtel College commencing September 2015.”

Kenya Airways will further mark the celebration by giving away one Kenya Airways Nairobi- London return ticket during the ceremony. “Employability is now top on the agenda for both the University of Sunderland and INtel College, who are keenly monitoring graduate employability statistics, providing employability skills to their students and sourcing stakeholder feedback from industry, in order to create graduates with high market value,” Mr Macharia said.

As the college completes its multimillion shilling expansion plan, the College Principal, Anita Aggarwal, said: “We are committed to playing our part towards achieving the Kenya 2030 Strategic Vision of building a knowledge economy. The way to do this is to create an effective learning environment for the 21st century learner, one which provides technology- enriched modern learning spaces, access to the latest resources, and teaching using research-informed pedagogies for course delivery.”