The University of Nairobi is planning to strengthen collaboration with the Chinese Embassy and the Peoples Republic of China.
According to a courtesy call to the Chinese Ambassador by the Vice-Chancellor on August 17, 2018, the two entities plan to work closely in the near future. Prof. Mbithi noted that the University of Nairobi has a strong partnership with the Chinese Embassy and the People’s Republic of China. “We have a vibrant Confucius Institute hosted at the University of Nairobi Towers. UoN students have been benefiting from Chinese Ambassadors scholarships every year. Currently, we have a big project going on, the construction of Confucius Institute Africa headquarters that will be hosted at the University of Nairobi,” he said. The Vice-Chancellor thanked the Ambassador for the support.
It was revealed that the Chinese University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University has started discussions with the University of Nairobi on a Railways Training that will go a long way in training engineers, technicians and human resource capital for the Standard Gauge Railway. Prof. Peter Ngau, Principal, College of Architecture and Engineering will be expected to lead a delegation to China to engage the counterparts. The Vice Chancellor requested the Chinese Embassy to consider funding of UoN Teaching and Referral Hospital and the Engineering Science Complex.
The Chinese Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Ms. Sun Baohong noted that the Peoples Republic of China and Kenya have many agreements being worked on and many ongoing projects. Many of those projects have been successful. She revealed that education is a top priority to the Embassy and hence many scholarships being given to students. “Over 700 people go to China on a yearly basis and 100 students benefit from the Chinese Ambassadors scholarships,” she said. Ms. Baohong congratulated the University of Nairobi for emerging position five in Africa and requested the University to establish collaboration with top Chinese Universities. Such collaborations, she observed will be beneficial to both students and staff who will be engaged in exchange programs, joint research, and joint academic programs.
It was noted that UoN’s Confucius Institute has developed a curriculum for secondary schools in Kenya, Bachelors and Master’s degree programs.
This article was first published on University of Nairobi site.
