Amboseli Director Assures Kenyans That They Will Not Convert Into A University.

A director with Amboseli Institute of Hospitality and Technology has ruled out any possibility of upgrading the college into a university.

Speaking during the 7^th graduation ceremony of this establishment, its founding director Jennifer Kago Koome said that it was quite unfortunate that the trend of middle-level colleges being converted into universities was gaining root as this would weigh heavily on the country’s economy. She pointed out that no country would ever grow if it lacked skilled labour to actually build it.

Koome insisted that Amboseli would remain at the TIVET training level for that is where she believed that they could contribute the most in the growth of the country’s economy.

“This is a very sad trend because, despite the high number of graduates being churned out every year from our universities, Kenya will continue to drown in some of the most basic problems due to the apparent skills gap in the market. The main concern is that we are training too many graduates for the white collar jobs and too few to do the real practical work. If you look at all the emerging economies, what we refer to the ‘BRIC’ economies, they emphasis more on skills training. If you have more managers than operatives in a country, it will be very difficult for it to grow,” said Koome.

She added that as an institute, their primary goal was to provide the country with skilled operatives who would offer these practical skills in the growth of this country and as such, they had no plans to turn the institution into a university.

She was happy that the law governing universities taking over middle-level colleges was in the process of being scrapped for it would change the course of their training.

Started in 1996 with only five students, Amboseli Institute of Hospitality and Technology has a student population of about 1,400 with over 9000 students already having gone through their training. They currently run two campuses in Thika and Nakuru Towns.

The college basically majors in Hospitality, Tourism, IT and Business Courses. They recently introduced Cosmetology and Fashion designs into their menu.

“Initially, we used to train Form Four leavers. But we have now broadened our scope to absorb those who dropped out of school at lower levels. Our courses range from certificates to diplomas where the graduates can now proceed to enroll into degree courses in any of the country’s universities,” she explained.

They have partnered with several universities, companies and hotels where their students go for attachments and as interns. Among the notable partners include; Serena, Sarova, Kempinski, Java and Hilton Hotels, and Tuskys Supermarkets.

On this day, the institute saw 345 graduates in various certificate and diploma courses.

Speaking in the same platform, Sabina Wanjiru Chege, the Murang'a County Women representative and the Chairperson Parliamentary Committee on Education called on Kenyan to embrace our diversity in culture and use these differences to improve on our strengths. She castigated the recent storming of Moi University by politicians who were rejecting the appointment of Professor Laban Ayiro as Vice-Chancellor in the basis of ethnicity.

“Our institutions of higher learning are national institutions and should be governed with highest professionalism. It is therefore very unfortunate to see elected leaders leading demonstrations in a national institution and advocating for their tribesman to lead the university. The council that did the interview too should be punished for the manner in which they handled the case. We should by all means support anyone who will add value in our institutions regardless of their ethnical or racial background,” she said.