| Industrialist Manu Chandaria graces SU's Quality Day |
The day was a culmination of a week of activities which included students and staff voting for the quality icon – staff member who best represents the spirit of quality and the department that displays the highest degree of quality services and operations. Dr Chandaria said Gemba Kaizen is Japanese for continuous improvement in one's place of work. "ISO certification alone is not enough. Quality is a state of the mind and it begins with individuals. Individuals then take it to their team," he observed. "The problem we have in Kenya today is lack of teamwork. Six people come together with seven ideas and they can't agree on the way forward," he added. "We waste a lot of time waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting everywhere in Kenya. We wait for government to do things; we wait for colleagues to deliver etc. We need to change that. And that change should begin at individual level," he noted. He said the backbone to implementation of Gemba Kaizen are the 5S i.e. sort out, systematically arrange, scrub clean, state the rules, and self-discipline or 5K in Kiswahili i.e. Kuchagua, kupanga, kusafisha, kudumisha, na kufundisha. An engineer by training, Dr Chandaria is Chairman of the Comcraft Group, a family business empire spread in five continents. Dr Chandaria been awarded many national and international awards for his business and philanthropic efforts. He was named the most respected CEO in East Africa three times in row from when the award was inaugurated in year 2000. In 2003, President Mwai Kibaki said Dr Chandaria has set a good example of hard work, and what one can achieve when focused and committed. Giving the opening remarks, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Quality Assurance) Dr Joseph Sevilla said the university had adopted ISO certification to formalise quality. He said the University had launched a strategic plan to help improve performance in both its administration and academic fronts to enhance its offerings to students. He said SU will introduce a teaching excellence award to further enhance quality in classroom delivery. He added that his office would soon hire a Research Officer to drive research activities in the university as research was a key undertaking in universities. The library took the top prize for the department that displays the highest degree of quality operations up one place from first runners up last year. Miss Dorina Telaide, Registrar – Administration was voted the university's icon of quality while Serah Karubi of ICT Department won the Quality Day competition. Speaking after the event, SU's Quality Assurance Manager Mrs Muchira Gatei said the Quality Day competition will from next year have categories for both students and staff participation. |
