Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) is a public university near Nairobi, Kenya. It is situated in Juja, 36 kilometres North East of Nairobi, along Nairobi-Thika Highway. It offers courses in Engineering, Science, Architecture and Building sciences. The university has a strong research interest in the areas of biotechnology and engineering.
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The university was started in 1981 as Jomo Kenyatta College of Agriculture and Technology (JKCAT), a Middle Level College by the Government of Kenya with the assistance from the Japanese Government. Plans for the establishment of JKCAT started in 1977. In early 1978, the Kenyan president, Jomo Kenyatta, donated two hundred hectares of farmland for the establishment of the college. The first group of students were admitted on 4th May 1981. The new president Daniel Arap Moi formally opened JKCAT on 17th March 1982. The first graduation ceremony was held in April 1984 with Diploma Certificates presented to graduates in agricultural engineering, food technology and horticulture. On 1st September 1988, Daniel Arap Moi, declared JKCAT a constituent College of Kenyatta University through a legal Notice, under the Kenyatta University Act (CAP 210C). The name of JKCAT officially changed to Jomo Kenyatta University College of Agriculture and Technology (JKUCAT). It was finally established as a University through the JKUAT Act, 1994 and inaugurated on 7th December 1994.
Currently Jomo Kenyatta has the following campuses, schools, faculties, institutes and colleges:
There are two students' dining cafeterias. The university offers accommodation to students at subsidized rates.
The university has a library that has a seting capacity of 600 students and it is stocked with a book stock of 80,000 volumes.The library also offers other essential services like; online services, reference, interlibrary loan, user-education, orientation, online information services, photocopying, binding and repair.
In February 2010 JKUAT was selected as the host for the East and Central Africa regional institute of the Pan African University. The post-graduate Institute on Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation would be hosted at the Main Campus in Juja, with the first students admitted in September 2011.[1] The decision that Kenya would host the regional institute had been made in July 2010 after a protracted dispute over who would become host for the region.[2] JKUAT hosts the African Institute on Capacity development (AICAD).