President William Ruto has announced that the Technical University of Kenya will be re-chartered to meet its principal mandate of being a polytechnic university. The president continues to say that the charter that the institution holds at this instant does not help it to meet the main role it should be playing.

The Head of State says, “After consultations with the Council Chairman and the Vice-Chancellor, we will re-work and re-charter this University so that we can establish it as a special technical university.”

He continues to say, “TU-K should not just be technical in its name, it should be a technical university by charter.”

The institution had raised concerns to the ministry of education around the proper explanation of the charter so that it matches the capacitation that was channeled to them.

The lack of clarity had led to fewer capitations from the Exchequer that treats TU-K as any other traditional university yet it continues to admit and train diploma students placed by KUCCPS to pursue various technical disciplines.

Education cabinet secretary Ezekiel Machogu has been directed by President Ruto to work towards the re-chartering of the Nairobi based institution.

However, he says, “I have asked the CS for Education to make appropriate arrangements to ensure this University lives up to its founding mandate by providing funding to it to continue offering diploma programmes.”

BY SHIPHRA DIANA