- Kisii University has deepened academic cooperation with U.S. institutions through a strategic engagement between its Vice-Chancellor and William Paterson University.
- Kisii University has expanded its partnership with the Mozilla Foundation on ethical artificial intelligence education, previously securing a US$25,000 grant for the initiative.
- Kisii University hosted the CHAKAMA regional conference, which brought together scholars from Kenya and Tanzania to discuss the future of Kiswahili research.
Kisii University is expanding academic cooperation with institutions in the United States, with renewed emphasis on research, innovation, student and faculty mobility, and cross-border knowledge exchange.
The push was highlighted during a strategic engagement between Kisii University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Nathan Oyori Ogechi and Prof. Solomon Nyaanga of William Paterson University in the United States. The two explored opportunities for joint research and publications, postgraduate co-supervision, public lectures, academic exchanges and professional networking. The cooperation is expected to expand access to international expertise and research networks, while creating openings for U.S. scholars and students to engage with Kenyan research priorities and African perspectives.
A planned donation of Business Management books from William Paterson University is among the immediate outcomes of the engagement. The cooperation feeds into Kisii University’s vision of becoming an inclusive and borderless institution, with international partnerships central to that goal.
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University Builds on Existing AI Partnership
The Kenya-U.S. engagement comes as Kenyan universities examine the opportunities and challenges presented by artificial intelligence, which is already reshaping education, healthcare, agriculture, business and public administration.
Kisii University has an existing partnership with the Mozilla Foundation focused on responsible and ethical artificial intelligence education. Through its Ethical Artificial Intelligence Project, the university integrated ethics into computing education and involved industry practitioners in teaching students about responsible technology use.
That collaboration has since grown into the Mozilla Responsible Computing Challenge, through which Kisii University and Mozilla are working to embed responsible computing principles into academic curricula and professional practice, addressing issues such as data privacy, cybersecurity and algorithmic bias. University records show an earlier Mozilla-funded Responsible Computing Challenge grant was worth US$25,000, supporting the integration of ethical artificial intelligence into the undergraduate Computer Science syllabus.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migosi Ogamba, EBS, opened a related forum and spoke on the importance of research and innovation in strengthening Kenya’s education sector. His remarks came during the CHAKAMA conference held at Kisii University.
CHAKAMA Conference Puts Focus on Kiswahili
The CHAKAMA regional conference at Kisii University brought together scholars, researchers, teachers and language experts, most of them from Kenya and Tanzania, to discuss the future of Kiswahili and research amid rapid technological change.
According to Dr. Riro Matinde, the discussions centred on ensuring that Kiswahili remains relevant in education, research and technology as artificial intelligence systems increasingly depend on large language datasets.
Kisii University’s engagement with William Paterson University builds on a wider history of academic links with U.S. institutions. The university has maintained a long-standing partnership with the University of Minnesota covering research, staff and student development, and community programmes. In 2024, the University of Minnesota committed more than US$660,000 over three years to support research at Kisii University. The two institutions have also collaborated on rural leadership research and training in southwestern Kenya.
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Kisii University’s broader internationalisation programme additionally includes partnerships with institutions across Africa and beyond.
By Yabesh Onwonga
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