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Principal Secretary University Education and Research Amb Simon Nabukwesi has encouraged university managements to embrace research and innovation in line with emerging global trends so that they can be globally competitive.

Speaking after opening Meru University of Science and technology management joint workshop in Mombasa, Nabukwesi said universities should offer solutions to the developments of the country by churning out full baked graduates. “The outputs from universities should be globally competitive and fit for the development needs of our nation, for example research and innovation and commercialisation and capacity building of students,” said Nabukwesi.

Universities in the country have been grappling with limited capacity to research and innovate, and in the Meru University workshop, the management was looking at how they can embrace best practice to make it globally more competitive. “The workshop is timely in the sense of relevance of the quality education, empowerment and mentorship of learners, through good teaching and of course, the university should coordinate them on how to manage that,” said Nabukwesi.

He urged the higher learning institutions to exercise high prudence management of resources, mobilisation of resources and planning as well.

Prof Bosire Monari, chairperson of Meru University council said the workshop would provide a good opportunity for the university management and council to evaluate their performance and how they can do better by ensuring quality teaching, research and service to the community.

Meru University of Science and Technology has a well-established Directorate of Research, which focuses on coordination and provision of policy direction in conduction, management and utilisation of research for humanity and sustainable social-economic development. The directorate is a critical division of the university and has a wide mandate that includes overseeing and facilitations of extensions, collaborations, consultancy services, documentation, publications and dissemination of research findings through seminars and conferences.

Since its inception, the directorate has actively developed processes, procedures and programmes to fulfil university’s vision and mission to strengthen research in education and training. It does this through activities on broad thematic areas including, but not limited to: agriculture, natural and biological sciences, engineering, energy, mining, health, information technology, business and social sciences.