A team from the Manufacturing Academy on Wednesday, 9th September toured the premises and facilities of the Technical University of Kenya in a bid to revive a Memorandum of Cooperation signed last year to offer short technical Manufacturing courses starting November this year. The short courses are in electrical and mechanical engineering and are tailor made so as to meet current industry needs and allow sector personnel to brush up on their skills.
During the tour, Mr. Francis K’Odhiambo, the head of KAM Consulting, Catherine Mukoko and Kevit Desai met the DVC of Technology, Innovation and partnerships, Prof. Suki K.K. Mwendwa, Dr. Eric Ogur and Professor Ogal from the TUK and came up with a tentative work plan.
“We looked at the MOU and have been challenged to see how it is going to happen. Doing that first step. When we begin to understand our challenges and difference and where we can the practicality of it all It , ” said Prof. Suki.
The school runs courses in Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Electrical Control, Comprehensive Electrical Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Automation, as well as Electronic Motor Assembly and Disassembly. It has well equipped workshops for; welding, sheet metal and fabrication, Plumbing and Carpentry and Machining. TUK also comes fully equipped with a Reverse Engineering Lab and a Computer Auto Design Lab with a capacity of 60. The Mechanical engineering lab is fully equipped with CNC lathe machines, milling, planning, milling and surface grinding machines. Other training labs in the institution also come with industrial automation and factory electrical training devices making it one of the best equipped universities in the country. To avoid underutilising the equipment, the university also intends to offer their labs for industrial use so that industry can develop parts.
According to Dr. Ogur, Kenya has a gap in training Technologists. “The difference between Engineers and Technologists is that Engineers use scientific knowledge to design while Technologists use scientific knowledge to create. So far our Engineers have been designing things then sending their designs to China to get the parts. This the gap we want to fill in,” he said.
Kenya has a shortfall of technologists. According to NITA, there are no records of how many technologists there are in the country. This has lead to problems in the manufacturing sector which cannot hope to industrialize without personnel trained in the country. The Manufacturing Academy hopes to close this gap by serving the training needs of industry.
“I think we have a long range vision of this and we need to formulate a plan which involves sharing infrastructure, it’s a more wholistic approach and it will bring us to a meaningful relationship so we need to nurture the whole process,” said Kevit Desai.