Dr Freddie Acosta, Director, School of Graduate Studies, Strathmore University presents a certificate to a course attendant. On the right are the trainers from MIT.

The 8th graduation ceremony for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Africa Internet Technology Initiative (MIT-AITI) summer programme was held on Friday 13th July 2007. The programme is a collaboration between Strathmore University and MIT.

In the programme, students from MIT teach students at SU over a period of six (6) weeks. The main emphasis is on programming using Java tools. Students are also given entrepreneurship talks by top Kenyan entrepreneurs. This year Ken Njoroge of Cellulant Limited and Njeri Rionge of Ignite Consulting shared their experiences with the students.

During the ceremony Michael Gordon, the MIT-AITI team leader noted that the Strathmore students were exceptionally good. He said that they looked forward to having the AITI spread beyond Strathmore.

Mr Clement Nyandiere, Dean, Faculty of Information Technology emphasized the need for the graduating students to take the initiative to the villages in rural Kenya and across schools in the country. He indicated that discussions were underway to see how Strathmore graduates can help the communities around their homes (and former schools) assimilate information and communications technologies to enhance their work practices and business opportunities.

Dr Freddie Acosta, the chief guest, implored the students to use the skills learnt to create business opportunities for themselves and others. A total of 34 students graduated.

By Joseph Njuki (DBIT)