The University of Nairobi and Tennessee State University have entered into a collaboration agreement that will see the two institutions mutually benefit from joint areas of collaboration. The agreement was signed on Thursday, June 22, 2023, at the Vice Chancellor’s Boardroom.

Earlier in the day the delegation from Tennessee met with the Associate Vice-Chancellor of Research Innovation and Enterprise, Prof. Margaret Hutchinson, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences and Dean, Faculty of Education  and Chairmen from various Faculties in the University.  The two parties discussed possible areas of collaboration that included joint publications, staff and student exchange, joint research and joint supervision.

The Department of Sociology, Geography and the Department of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies was represented during the meeting and the different staff members highlighted areas of collaboration with the University of Tennessee. 

In her remarks, Dr. Jamie Mc Gowan who is the Director, Global Research Office at the Tennessee State University noted that the University of Nairobi is one of the top universities in the Region and that the University was looking forward to partnering with the University of Nairobi. The Tennessee State University came with a delegation of 15 Faculty who visited Nairobi and Kigali with the goal of setting up a regional hub for research.

During the signing of the agreement, Dr. Gretchen Neisler who is the Provost of International Affairs pointed out that they have been studying the University of Nairobi for a while and they were excited and eager to work with the University. “We at the university have been following what you do and we are really looking forward to workin with the best university in the region,” she said.

Prof. Kiama noted that Internationalization is very important to the University of Nairobi. “I am looking forward to the partnership between the two Universities as internalization is key to reaching a world class university,” he said.

The Tennessee delegation also visited the Wangari Maathai Institute (WMI) at the Upper Kabete Campus and the Department of Nursing at the Faculty of Health Sciences.