The University's @ilabAfrica research institute has been given a US$ 10,000 grant by the Google University Programs Team. The team runs the CS4HS (Computer Science for High School), a grant program designed to increase awareness of and interest in computer science amongst high school and primary school students.

The program aims to connect teachers with university academics who provide them with the training and resources they need to teach computer science in fun and relevant ways.
This year, the Google Team offered grants of US$ 10, 000 - 15, 000 to universities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Their focus was on projects which use a ‘teacher training workshop' model.

Under the program, universities develop 2 to 3 day workshops for local high school computer studies teachers. These workshops incorporate professional talks by industry leaders, and discussions on new and emerging computer science curricula at high school level.

@iLabAfrica received a grant of US$ 20,000 last year under the program and organised a teacher's conference and two activities for high school students: a national programming competition and a girls' conference.

The girls' conference was held in February this year where over 100 high school girls came to the University to listen to female speakers who have made it in the Kenyan IT industry. The aim of these activities is to encourage schools to offer Computer Studies and students to take it up the subject.