We are currently working with universities in Kenya to embed appropriate technologies within societies to improve the livelihood and quality of life of people in Sub-saharan Africa. Currently, the EC4HE is partnering with Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT) and Moi University (MU-K) within the framework of Erasmus (plus) KA-107 project.
The project covers two main topics of mutual interest between University of Twente and the two Kenyan universities:
- Maintenance Engineering to improve management of capital assets in Kenya from a maintenance perspective. Important capital assets in Kenya includes geothermal power generation facilities and textile mills in Kenya. To realise this effort from an educational perspective, we are working together with DeKUT and MU-K to enhance curricula and teaching for their master programme in Mechanical Engineering.
- Manufacturing System Engineering is a second important topic we are partnering together to innovate new knowledge to realise design of technologies which will benefit communities in marginalised areas. This includes innovative 'maintenance-free' wind power technologies, micro and pico-hydro power generation systems to power homes unconnected to electricity grid, appropropriate water filteration technologies among other technologies fulfilling soceital needs of marginalised communities.
Already something is going on!
Since 2nd of March, the EC4HE is hosting Prof. Peter Muchiri (DeKUT) and Prof. John T. Githaiga (MU-K) as visiting professors to the University of Twente. Prof. Muchiri and Githaiga are in Enschede to share experience and knowledge in maintenance engineering and manufacturing systems engineering. This is only the beginning of a fruitful collaboration as we reach out to communities and societies out there!
Want to know more? Feel free to contact Alberto, Jelle or Peter here!
