Strathmore University: The First Pre-Independence Higher Learning Institution To Admit Students Of All Races

Strathmore University is one of the leading higher education institutions in Kenya and the region. The university has been recognized and fitted for various achievements and stands ranked as one of the top Business institutions in Africa.

While it may be recognised for its academic excellence, the university boasts a rich history of how it came about to be. Here is its story as told by WoK.

History

Strathmore was started in 1961 as an Advanced-level Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects by a group of professionals, who founded the Strathmore Educational Trust.

It was the first in Pre-independence Kenya to accommodate all races, religions and social standing. Its establishment was influenced by Saint Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei.

In March 1966, the college admitted 25 Accountancy students marking its first intake. They began preparing for the examinations of the UK-based Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). The students were sponsored by Shell East Africa, BAT (East Africa) and the East African Breweries. At this time Strathmore College was unique as a fully integrated post-Form 4 institution offering both academic and professional courses.

In October 1982, owing to the increased demand from companies for the professional training of their employees, the College began evening courses in Accountancy after normal working hours, with 60 students sponsored by various companies.

In 1986, in response to a request by the Trustees, the Government of Kenya donated 5 acres of land on Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate. The European Union (EU) and the Italian Government were among the initial sponsors of the Madaraka Campus project. The donors were keen to support a co-educational College that would offer courses in Management and Accountancy. Kianda College, an undertaking of Kianda Foundation, which was planning new developments at the time, agreed to run their professional courses in the new Madaraka campus.

Construction of the new campus commenced in September 1989. Meanwhile, in January 1991, the Information Technology Centre was started in the Lavington Campus to run computer courses leading to the Institute for the Management of Information Systems (formerly Institute of Data Processing Management) Diploma and Higher Diploma. In January 1992 a Distance Learning Centre was opened to offer correspondence courses in Accountancy to students who are unable to attend lectures.

In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate.

Enrollment

The university at the time boasted a total population of 4,393 students(full-time and part-time) studying Accountancy, Administration, Commerce, Finance, Management and Information Technology.

Becoming a University

In August 2002 the Commission of Higher Education awarded Strathmore a Letter of Interim Authority to operate as a University with a Faculty of Commerce and a Faculty of Information Technology.

The first undergraduate students to enrol in these faculties completed their 4-year degree course in December 2004 and graduated in August 2005.

In June 2007, Kenya’s Commission for Higher Education approved the award of a charter to Strathmore University.

Strathmore University Charter gazetted

The University’s Charter was gazetted under the Universities Act (CAP 210B) in the ‘Kenya Gazette’ supplement no. 47 (legislative supplement no. 27) via legal notice no. 86. The charter detailed the establishment and functions of the University, membership and governance of the University, administration, financial provision and statutes of the University.

Accommodation

Strathmore University is not a residential campus and does not run or own hostels. However, to guide students in choosing accommodation, the University periodically inspects hostels around and provides a recommended list of hostels. The recommendation is based on the alignment of culture and setting with our values; safety, especially for female students, facility standards, cost, and accessibility to campus.

Security

The university is well aware of the need to secure the members of the university while they are on campus, as well as university property.

The Safety and Security department is responsible for ensuring security on campus, and managing entrances and exits of the campus and all buildings. Such auxiliary services such as parking and emergency protocols also fall under the department.

Recognitions & awards

Strathmore developed County Pro – a robust, ready to use soft­ware for centralized/​decentralized local gov­ern­ment pro­cesses at the Sub County, Ward, and Block level in a uni­form man­ner, encom­passing global e-​Governance stand­ards. The solu­tion is an integ­rated web-based soft­ware for all depart­ments and divi­sions of the County Gov­ern­ments, which enables inform­a­tion shar­ing across all depart­ments and divi­sions of the County.

In 2016, the CountyPro solution won various awards such as the CIO 100 and the ICT Innovation award at the connected summit that took place in Mombasa, Kenya.

Strathmore is ranked the number 1 business school in Kenya by Eduversal and number 3 in Africa.

It is also the first carbon rated institution in solar in Africa.

Courses