Mount Kenya University (MKU)

Established in 2008 and granted a charter in 2011, Mount Kenya University (MKU) is Kenya's largest private university by enrolment. Headquartered in Thika, Kiambu County, MKU serves over 50,000 students across campuses in Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu, Nkubu, and Meru, plus regional centres in Rwanda and Somaliland.

The university operates 12 schools including Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Law, Business and Economics, Education, Pure and Applied Sciences, Computing and Informatics, and Engineering. MKU's School of Medicine is based at the Thika Level 5 Hospital, providing clinical training for medical students.

Accredited by CUE, MKU ranks 7th nationally. Its extensive campus network and open, distance and e-learning (ODEL) platform make it the most geographically accessible private university in Kenya.

MKU's Directorate of Research and Development has secured grants worth Ksh.120 million, supporting research across health sciences, business, and technology with a growing repository of publications in malaria detection, AI-based assessment, and SME performance. The College of Graduate Studies and Research operates dedicated research centres at the Medical School and School of Pharmacy, with active projects in pregnancy-associated malaria, e-assessment proctoring using AI, and business growth strategies for small enterprises. Partnerships with the University of Tartu (Estonia) through Erasmus+, DAAD (Germany), Leuphana University (Germany), and Cape Peninsula University of Technology (South Africa) support faculty exchange and joint research. Collaborations with Zhejiang Post and Telecommunication College and Nanjing Zhongxing Xinyada in China advance ICT research. MKU's e-repository hosts hundreds of theses and publications, reflecting its growing research culture and commitment to community-relevant innovation across Kenya and the region.

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.