Kenyatta University (KU)

Founded in 1965 as Kenyatta College, a secondary-level teacher training institution, Kenyatta University (KU) was chartered in 1985 as a full public university. Located in Kahawa, along the Thika Superhighway in Kiambu County, KU serves over 70,000 students across multiple campuses.

The university operates nine schools including Education, Business Economics and Tourism, Engineering and Architecture, Health Sciences, Law Arts and Social Sciences, Pure and Applied Sciences, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, and the Digital School of Virtual and Open Learning. Campuses include Ruiru, Parklands, Kitui, Mombasa, City Centre, Nyeri, and Nakuru.

Accredited by CUE, KU ranks 4th nationally. Its Digital School of Virtual and Open Learning is a pioneer in online education in Kenya, and the university's Nokia-Microsoft Mobile Laboratory supports ICT innovation and training.

KU maintains a prolific research agenda with over 120 publications and 110,000 patents and copyrights, ranking 2nd in Kenya for agricultural and biological sciences and 2nd for medicine nationally. The Division of Research, Innovation and Outreach manages Ksh.140M in grants, supporting strengths in education, health sciences, GIS technology, and social sciences. KU's collaboration with the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA) on the Research-2-Commercialisation (R2C) project, supported by the European Union, is developing national guidelines for translating university research into market-ready innovations. Partnerships with Erasmus+ (EU), DAAD (Germany), and Leuphana University (Germany) enhance faculty development and joint research, while the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) SDG Hub designation recognises KU's contribution to sustainable development goals. The university's 50+ start-ups and innovation ecosystem position it as a leader in research commercialisation across East Africa.

A C+ mean grade is the minimum for a Bachelor's degree; competitive programmes (medicine, engineering, law, nursing, architecture) require higher grades and specific KCSE subject clusters. Master's programmes require a relevant Bachelor's degree; PhD programmes a relevant Master's degree.