Nairobi-based United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) is offering 11 undergraduate scholarships for its programmes starting September.
Of the scholarships targeting needy people, two are full sponsorships while the rest are partial and are open to Form Four leavers who scored at least a C+ (plus) in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination last year.
The university is targeting persons with disability, those from arid lands, people from the marginalised communities while the rest will come from the informal settlements neighbouring USIU-Africa. Applications are open until June 2.
Some of the informal settlements near the Thika Road-based USIU are Korogocho, Dandora, Githurai, Mathare North, and Baba Dogo.
The two full scholarships that are open to a male and a female requires top performers with at least a mean grade of B+ (plus) who must have scored a minimum of a B (plain) in English and Mathematics in the KCSE test.
“Applicants must demonstrate academic and leadership achievements and MUST be in need of financial assistance,” the university said in a newspaper notice without indicating the evidence required to clinch the study opportunity.
Tuition, room & board, and laboratory fees are catered for under full scholarship while the half-scholarships cover only tuition costs.
For eligibility, all the applicants need at least a C+ (plus) in English and Mathematics in the national exam, putting a premium on the two subjects, perhaps due to the university’s bias for business and communication courses.
The university also has an opening for a Kenyan civil servant seeking to study a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice at half the tuition cost. The course deals with the application of law, lessening of crime and the application of legal procedure.
USIU-Africa is one of the well-known private universities in Kenya that attracts students pursuing some of the popular courses, including the MBA that has been the top attraction for people in the corporate world and politics.
It is a high-cost learning centre that has got learners from the well-to-do homes from across the region and families of expatriates and diplomats.
Strathmore and Daystar universities also make the list of top universities in Kenya with the former offering business and public policy courses costing more than Sh1 million in fees at graduate level.
Daystar is one of the go-to trainers in journalism and public relations that has produced some of the dependable journalists and PR practitioners in Kenya.
However, the University of Nairobi in 2020 beat these private universities to host the UK-designed Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) course and chose Ann Gichuhi as its pioneer lead.
Dr Gichuhi, a PR consultant, left the University of Nairobi role last November after doing 12 years of CIPR to go into “bigger and better” things, she told PR Safari, a podcast by the Centre for Public Relations.
The USIU scholarships have been announced at a time the government of Kenya has unveiled a new university and technical colleges funding model that categorises learners as vulnerable, less vulnerable and able.
These categories will be identified using a formula developed by the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) to arrive at who gets full scholarship, a fraction of it and those will get only the loans.
While unveiling the funding model, President William Ruto said some 45,000 university and 42,000 TVET learners will be enlisted for full scholarships while private university students will be restricted to the government loans.
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