The Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology will admit its first students in June this year, University Education Principal Secretary Simon Nabukwesi has said.
KAIST will be hosted in Konza Technopolis, a key flagship project of Kenya’s Vision 2030 economic development portfolio.
Konza will be a world-class city, powered by thriving information, communications and technology sector.
The institute has been designed after the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, which promotes technical training for economic growth.
Speaking at this year's Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Conference at Sheikh Zayed Hall in Mombasa, Nabukwesi drew parallels and comparisons from South Korea.
"In 1994, South Korea's economy was lower than Kenya but when they established the science and technology institute, everything changed and they industrialised very fast," Nabukwesi said.
KAIST will also admit students to pursue Masters and PhD degrees. The institute will occupy a 36-acre piece of land.
The campus will comprise 10 research science labs working with specialised local and international researchers in science, technology and engineering.
KAIST is anticipated to boost science, technology, engineering and mathematics in a bid to build human capacity to industrialise the economy by 2030.
Last week, the Cabinet Secretary for ICT Joe Mucheru unveiled the Kenya National Digital Master plan for 2022-32 during the annual connected summit at Diani, Kwale county.
The master plan proposes the acceleration of the development of Konza Technopolis to promote cloud services and data management.
At the same time, Nabukwesi encouraged the principals to motivate students to study careers they love.
"Most people in Kenya are doing what they don't like, and we should discourage that," he said.
He also motivated Kenyans to study French, saying that language proficiency opens many doors to international jobs.
"Rwanda beats us in taking up international jobs because they are good in English and French. We too can export labour to the world. There are many jobs in the diaspora that Kenyans can do well," he said
Nabukwesi asked Kenyans interested in diaspora jobs to visit the department of Diaspora Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get help.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)
“WATCH: The latest videos from the Star”
