Kenyan University students are set to benefit from Ksh105 million funding after emerging victorious in a global competition.
The British Council, on Wednesday, September 15, announced the winners of funding for the inaugural Innovation for African Universities programme (IAU) 2021.
Students from Kenyatta University (KU), Riara University, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University, KCA University and Strathmore University each won Ksh105 million from the project aimed at improving innovative projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The five institutions are part of 24 African Universities from Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa that are eligible for the grant.
Over 50 institutions had applied for the grants that sought to pair a university in Sub-Saharan Africa with that of the United Kingdom to foster collaborations.
"Over 50 applications were assessed through a rigorous process of multistage evaluation and 24 projects were selected to be a part of the programme.
"Many of the projects represent a new generation of young inspiring student-led projects, addressing local and global challenges. They reflect extensive understanding of community needs and problems. The support and interest in the IAU programme have been remarkable and we thank everyone who participated.," read a statement from the British Council.
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University was paired with the University of Sussex to set up Kenya Climate Innovation Center as a Center of Excellence.
KCA University, on the other hand, was paired with the University of Nottingham Business School to develop a centre for The Youth Enterprise Development Fund while Strathmore University was linked with the University of Brighton (UOB) for Sustainable Travel and Tourism (STTA) centre.
Riara University was paired with The Open University to develop Ashoka Center while Kenyatta was paired with Northumbria University to create the Entrepreneurship Educators Foundation for Eastern Africa.
All the centres will receive funding worth Ksh105 million bringing the total for Kenyan universities to Ksh525 million.
"The two selected institutions, also known as centre of excellence, will establish a partnership to support peer learning and exchange of knowledge on a variety of approaches to entrepreneurship ecosystem strengthening.
"They will also be responsible for running all the other components of the programme and lead on the selection of network partners that will be engaged in the programme," added the statement.
The council is seeking to tap into the power of youth in Africa whose population is growing rapidly and has since hit 830 million.
According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) statistics in 2019, Kenya has 13,777,600 youth with 61 per cent of the overall population comprising of people aged 24 years and below.
