The Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology (Rvist) is gearing up towards being upgraded into a polytechnic.
The technical college Principal, Daniel Mutai said the institution has sufficient infrastructure and personnel for the upgrade.
He said the college which was established in 1979 with the support of former President Daniel Moi also has sufficient land for expansion to allow higher intake of Technical and Vocational Education Training students.
Asked whether there were plans to later upgrade the facility into a university, Mutai said there was no need to add the number of universities in the country because there was a need for technical skills to help Kenya rise into an industrialised nation.
He observed that educational institutions were churning out more quantity surveyors, engineers and architects than the number of skilled artisans such as plumbers, masons, electricians and painters graduating from TVET institutions and polytechnics.
Mutai encouraged youths to enrol in polytechnics and other technical institutions to get practical skills to be in line with the shifting job opportunities.
He revealed that with major shifts in the labour market towards practical-based skills there was a need to satisfy these demands by having more youths in technical Institutions.
"Africa’s leap to new industrialised status is being hampered by overemphasis on University Education as opposed to the acquisition of technical skills," said Mutai when he led students and staff in a tree planting event in remembrance of road accident victims.
"There is a skill mismatch that needs to be addressed through technical training and not awarding more theoretical degrees,” he said.
The principal said Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) would bridge the labour imbalance because it would lead to acquisition of skills for gainful and decent employment.
On climate change, he said the institution had planted more than 10, 000 trees through a Public-Private sector partnership aimed at driving sustainability and increasing the country’s forest cover.
He observed that the area where Rvist is located was windy and dusty before the management planted trees and changed the climate in the semi-arid area.
