The university also presented its 2021-2026 Strategic Plan that outlines five goals aimed at achieving financial stability while increasing diversity and student admission.
The goals are excellence in teaching and learning, distinction in research and scholarship, competitiveness in creative work, innovation and entrepreneurship, excellence in service and community engagement and organisational excellence.
The execution of the strategic plan, Prof Brown added, would cost an estimated Sh8 billion that would be raised through operating revenue streams, grants and related cash-raising programmes.
To improve teaching and learning, the university will diversify source market student recruitment and increase non-Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination enrolment to 50 per cent of the current population by 2026.
Usiu-A also plans to maintain the population of foreign students at 17 per cent and increase international faculty flow, enhance placement, co-curricular and career service and equip learners with the knowledge and practical skills to be ethical critical thinkers.
Prof Brown said the university would offer courses that prepare students for the global mindset.
It would further seek to utilise world-class technology, develop innovative practices in the delivery of quality, efficiency, effectiveness and productivity through face-to-face, online and blended learning.
The Usiu-A Vice-Chancellor said the institution would recruit highly qualified staff too.
We plan to triple our research productivity and funding by 2026 and exceed 160 high impact publications every year, Prof Brown said.
Usiu-A also aims to transition 85 per cent of its students into the labour market through programmes that meet the 21st-century industry needs.
As part of the strategic plan, the institution will triple external research funding and research productivity by 2026.
Out of retirementThe plan seeks to address these challenges. It builds on the considerable successes of the 2015-2020 Strategic Plan and Usiu-As long history of innovative and strategic investments and initiatives. The development and growth you see today are as a result of past strategic plans that have guided us through challenging times. We have no doubt that the next strategic period will be a chance for growth, she said.
Prof Brown was appointed for a ninth-month term in August last year.
Her term has, however, been extended by three more months to pave the way for the recruitment of a new VC. The acting VC came out of retirement to take temporary charge of the university she left in 2017, having served as VC for 21 years.
