UNESCO-ICHEI Strengthen Ties with UoN

UNESCO-ICHEI with UoN management

On Monday, March 13, 2023, a delegation from the International Centre for Higher Education and Innovation under the auspice of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI) paid a courtesy call to the Vice Chancellor, Prof Stephen Kiama.

The delegation led by the Director of UNESCO-ICHEI, Prof Li Ming was on an official visit to the University so as to enhance the existing partnership and discuss further collaboration. UoN partnered with UNESCO-ICHEI and the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE) to establish an IIOE Kenya National Centre (IIOE-KNC) and Smart Classroom. The Centre which is housed at UoN will be for training teachers on Digital Transformation and has already conducted a successful pilot project on Digital Transformative Pedagogy with four partner universities.

In his remarks, UNESCO-ICHEI Director, Prof Li Ming thanked the VC who was 2022, IIOE Rotating Presidency Unit, for his leadership and support during the successful execution of the pilot projects on Digital Transformation in 5 countries. He also said that IIOE has been able to develop 300 online courses together with a 3 year development report.

There were other areas of collaboration Prof Li Ming spelt out, including the launch of IIOE Certified Professional Development/ Micro-Credentials, the introduction of Virtual Reality (VR) courses to IIOE-KNC and acquiring 50 software licenses for the Smart Classroom computers. All this will be through UNESCO-ICHEI partner enterprises. “UoN and SuSTech University can sign an agreement for student exchange programmes and full scholarships,” Prof Ming said.

In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Stephen Kiama was delighted with these new initiatives for collaboration. “I am very happy for this initiative, it has come timely, as the teachers will be already trained, when the first cohort of CBC students join the university in 2029,” said Prof Kiama. “I am also happy with the offer to connect and partner with the private sector,” said Prof Kiama.

The Vice Chancellor encouraged the IIOE-Kenya National Centre to expand its network and include more universities. The delegation also toured the Smart Classroom and other technology based learning centres at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Chiromo Campus.