MKU Partner With Bradford University To Embed Peace In African Universities.
Mount Kenya University in partnership with University of Bradford-UK will host an international conference on Peace and Security in near future that will bring together government officials, key policy makers, the academia and industry.
Speaking at MKU Thika Main Campus when he met MKU
Vice-Chancellor Prof. Stanley Waudo, Head,
Department of Peace Studies at University of Bradford Prof. David J. Francis said
that the move will see the launch of the inaugural ‘Africa Universities Peace
and Research Consortium’ as well as an International Journal of Peace and
Social Enterprise.
“We shall use the conference to engage relevant officials
from the Ministry of Education to develop a new framework for embedding peace
studies in the national curriculum. The Peace and Research Consortium shall be
a policy reservoir to advice on the link between peace, development, economic
growth and other factors,” said Prof. Francis.
The two universities have agreed on a partnership, which
will be formally signed during the conference.
The two institutions have also agreed to work together
on Staff capacity training/mentorship and exchange programmes. Prof. Francis
said that besides MKU, University of Bradford is also eager to establish
partnerships with other private and public universities in Africa.
“Lack of information on available opportunities has been a hindrance
to African academics but this relationship opens a treasure trove of
information. Our staff, for instance, will now have information on Commonwealth
scholarships available.” Professor David is a Commissioner for the UK
Commonwealth Scholarship Commission,” said Prof. Waudo.
The partnership will also support the development of
curricula in the areas of Peace and Security Studies starting with the Master
of Science in Peace and Social Enterprise.
MKU offers a variety of programmes in peace and security
studies through its Institute of Security Studies, Justice and Ethics.
University of Bradford’s Department of Peace Studies, which Prof. Francis
heads, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.
Last week, the University of Bradford co-hosted a conference
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with an aim of establishing peace studies in
mainstream education throughout the African continent. University of Bradford
has partnered with 37 universities in Ethiopia.
In Kenya, the Ministry of Education has taken several steps
in integrating training on peace and security in the national curriculum. Some
of these steps include the establishment of guidelines, and the ongoing review
of the 8-4-4 curriculum.
Global Education for Peace in Africa, Prof. David said, will
have a major impact on policy and practice throughout Africa.
Among the high profile delegates were Joyce Muchemi,
Director of MKU’s Institute of Security Studies, Justice and Ethics.
Meanwhile, four MKU students are in Johannesburg, South
Africa, for the 8th edition of the Federation of Africa University Sports
(FASU).
Sylvester Nakeel, Peter Mwai, Mathew Rapando and Charles
Wanjiru are representing the university in the seven-day event (June 26-July 2)
hosted by the University Sports South Africa at the University of Johannesburg
and the Tshwane University of Technology. The four are participating in
athletics. Other competitive disciplines in the FASU games are badminton,
basketball, chess, football, volleyball, netball, table tennis and tennis.
Last week, the MKU team received sh. 600,000 sponsorship
from MKU Chairman Dr. Simon Gicharu to facilitate their participation in the
games.
“We shall pull out all the stops to ensure we continuously
mould all-rounded students,” said Dr. Gicharu during the presentation of the
dummy cheque at Thika Main Campus. “MKU is a place for holistic talent
development.”
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