Hello All:
Can we Debate the concept of The enterprise University What is it,what kind of projects projects should we undertake at students, staff levels. Should we have competition of the best projects with presents , how often: Please feel free to dream and come with great ideas then we shall sift them: For example should we start A student digital village manned by students, How can we use the Youth fund, can we start a SIFE(students in free enterprise) as in other universities: GET GREAT IDEAS.. THis is IU together we change the Youth and employment in Kenya.
prof Kang’ethe
Thanks Prof. Kang’ethe for kicking of the debate on the IU enterprise vision. It is important that we sharpen our understanding of what it means to be an Enterprise University.
One characteristic of an enterprise University is the boldness to experiment with new ideas and new ways of doing things. The concept of Students digital village is a good one. Let us have students put some meat on it and suggest what this would for them in practice.
The other Characteristic of an Enterprise University is being Entrepreneurial. Let us look for opportunities for possible business ventures. For example the forthcoming government digitization project. Why can we not bid for this and have students engaged in this work and at the same time be paid for it. This can provide fees for some students in need.etc. More from me , next time.
Thank you for creating this blog-that is the administrator.
In today’s economy you need to be innovative. Imparting on students this culture(of enterprising) will definitely give them a competitive edge along side being well educated. It requires an environment that encourages innovation and supports innovative ideas: and IU is good an environment(believe me!). I would buy the concept of the digital village which I hope you’d agree correlates to a students innovation center(where they can even startup up their own enterprises). Also, getting students to participate in such projects as pointed – government digitization project, would broaden their spectrum of ideas and impart on them the essential enterprising skills. Even better, it means money for the students.
I believe you can never be truly enterprising if you are not innovative in whatever you are offering be it a service or product.
Why the name ‘Inoorero’ When i try to tell people about this name,and the University in general…they usually ask me if it is a University meant for Kikuyu’s only…The name is kind of tribalistic.
Dear Friend,
Thank you for your sincere expression of your thoughts and your friends. Let them know that this is not the case. It is an international, multicultural student and staff community. This is a good time to educate one another. I think we should be proud of our heritage of words that means so much and shows Kenyan origin and contribution to the world. Some people ask” What is in a name. I believe a name should communicate value, and purpose just the same way we derive names from the Greek language such as “biology”.
This response may have come from a person with pre-conceived ideas. I believe the name is beautiful as it express the goal precisely.The name of the current Building is “Inoorero Centre ” meaning the “Sharpening place” of which you are aware. Every progressive person looks forward to intentions and purpose and the achievements or results of any project and not concepts put forward It is a sharpening place for ideas, knowledge, concepts and innovations. It has been chosen and symbolized by refiners “flame” to express our concept of a truly world class and enterprise university that will create the future and make a different for youth and industry and the country at large.
If you do not sharpen your tools , your performance will go down with time and use of the tools.
The IU repesents global in thinking (world class) with the goal to use global knowledge to create national and local business environment to create hope and jobs students for other esteemed Kenyans. Refining to distinction.
Prog Kang’ethe
Digital village……good idea….. but first let the students enjoy unlimited internet resource to start with before we come to that. At the moment a student can’t even access internet within the college outside the computer multimedia lab even when he/she has a laptop because it is secured unlike in other universities. I have a big dream for Inoorero. It is definitely a success.
Kennedy, thanks for your good comments. Let me inform you that we are experiencing speeds of up to 15mbs and you should be utilizing this as well. Currently there are two wireless access points(we are in the process of installing three more) at the University for use by students and staff to access the internet using their wifi enabled laptops or mobile devices. The University’s wireless network is secured meaning anything transmitted through the network is encrypted. For you to use the the wireless network you need a key which can be obtained from the ICTS. Should you have a laptop or any wifi enable device feel free to contact ICTS to obtain the key(it is your right). Also, all the other eight computer labs have internet connection and are open to students.
Thank you for your response concerning the internet. I will visit the ICTS again this sem for the same. Last sem when I requested them for the key they politely told me that it wasn’t open for the students yet.
I hope I this is a new development.
That aside, I wish to appreciate prof Kang’ethe’s reply on the name ‘Inoorero’. I think that reply should be pasted on the campus walls for all to read. For your information, that name raised a lot of criticism, resentment, and unhealthy debate even amongst the students themselves. It’s sad to note that we are not proud of our own heritage as prof put it. This is very true.
Why do we proudly drive vehicles like ‘toyota’ use equipment like ‘Dell’ which we do not even bother about the names or what they stand for. Little do we know that they are names of people, but what do we care if the machine works alright.
If you don’t believe me come up with an invention and call it Otieno or Maina or any other indigenous name and see how many Kenyans will identify with it. You’ll be assured of getting more recognition outside your own country before your own people embrace it.
Moi University is not for Kalenjins neither is Kenyatta University for Kikuyus and Nairobi University for Maasai.
The only way to beat criticism is through aiming for excellence.
i would wish to recommend that the college should try and help out students who are not able to get attachment opportunities on thaei own. some are actually forced to stay idle not knowing what to do since they could not find internship in any of the places they applied. so it would be better for the college to join up with various businesses and firms so as to secure albeit a few places for those students who will not be successful in securing internship places in the various organizations. thank you
hi the student digital village is a fantastic idea especially now that the ict board of Kenya has launched a grant for the development of local digital content and software application.the sdv would have come in handy at a time like this by enabling all interested students and teachers to have a central hub from where exchange and birthing of ideas would have been easily channeled towards the creation of a viable application that who knows might have picked the price or even catch the attention of someone else who might see it fit for their business or company.having said that,if there are any students or other parties from IU involved in the development of content towards the grant please inform me about them because i would like to be involved(no price attached) but coz am a beginning programmer my involvement would i guess utmost be as ‘kym’(kada ya moko) or in a more dignified term i may help in research.
P.S the post by prof on the name of the school should be like ken says displayed allover the school boards for everyone to read,its changed my attitude about the schools name.
Oh, and is the sdv running yet?