Kibabii University has lined up postgraduate courses in forensics and is positioning itself for a piece of investigations business after launching a Sh64.6 million ICT hub.
Housing a data centre, a mobile computing lab, a video conferencing centre, an e-learning lab, a professional certification centre, and a digital forensics laboratory, the ICT complex is funded using a National Research Fund (NRF) grant.
“Aside from the hub being used for training, the facility, especially the data centre and digital forensics equipment will be available for hire by Kenyans for digital forensics works,” Franklin Wabwoba, the principal investigator, said.
Prof Wabwoba led a team from the School of Computing and Informatics to apply for a research grant from the NRF in 2016.
The team included Prof Samuel Mbuguah, Dr Betty Mayeku, Ms Dorcus Shisoka, Mr Humphrey Kilwake, Dr Patrick Owoche, Dr Samwel Barasa, and Dr Yonah Etene and Mr Daniel Khaoya.
A postgraduate programme in digital forensics, a degree in knowledge management and a PhD in computer science make the list of some of the courses the university will offer, giving it more headroom into the rich pickings of international students in the region.
National Research Fund chief executive Dr Jemimah G. Onsare hailed the timely completion of the project, but asked the university to part of the 5th Industrial Revolution.
“This facility should be expanded to enrich the citizens of Kenya. This can be achieved by exploring more collaboration with public institutions like the Directorate of Criminal Investigation which has recently launched a similar project,” she said.
The Sh4 billion DCI facility is expected to revolutionise investigations in a country where samples have had to be sent to South Africa, in effect delaying justice.
At the national forensics unit of 10 labs, serious crimes, including robbery with violence, terrorism, murder, kidnappings, rape and defilement, cyber fraud, and trafficking will be unravelled with considerable ease.
“It is important to note that Kibabii University is among the very few universities in Kenya accredited by the Commission for University Education to offer the Doctor of Philosophy in Information Technology,” Dr Roselida Maroko, the chair of Department of Information Technology, said.
Dr Maroko says the department has facilities, including the digital forensics laboratory “to satisfy client needs for computing through innovative and quality training, research and dissemination of findings.”
The school has partnered with the Huawei, IBM, Cisco, and Oracle to ensure students appreciate and benefit from professional courses that the industry desires.
In the past two decades, Kenya has positioned itself as a regional technological leader, becoming a member of five countries leading technological innovation in Africa known as KINGS (Kenya, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa.
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Kibabii is scaling Kenya to global ICT hub