Kono University to Kick-start Lectures in January, 2024
19th December, 2023
The Minister of Technical and Higher Education, Dr. Haja Ramatulai Wurie, has disclosed to the press that Kono University of Science and Technology (KUST) would start lectures for its first batch of students in January, 2024.
She made this disclosure during one of the weekly press briefings organized by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education (MoICE).
She started off by thanking MoICE for creating such an effective two-way dialogue platform that links the Government of Sierra Leone to its people with real-time information as to what obtains in the country.
She reminded the press that H.E President Julius Maada Bio had made a promise to the people of Kono District to correct a social disservice by establishing KUST, and that as recent as August of 2023, a team from the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education (MTHE), went to Kono District (specifically at the site of the University) and signed a contract for the project management consultancy service with an Indian Group known as "Aakar Abhinav Consultants Pvt. Ltd" for construction of the university.
She commended the Ministry for exhibiting so much passion in ensuring that the university kick-starts in January 2024, adding that the very first step which was taken to enhance same was to set up a transition team comprising Dr. Sama Mondeh, Mrs. Mariatu Bah, Mr. Alpha Jalloh, and Mr. Edward Gandi. She commended the transition team for their technical support in enabling the university to position itself with a view to starting operation this academic year.
She disclosed that a building has already been identified in Kono District from where the Secretariat of the university would be operating, and that two Government Technical Institutes (GTIs) in Sundu Town and Dorma have also been identified to conduct lectures. This, according to her, is very important for the GTIs, given the Ministry's current stance to transform GTIs into community colleges for which the regional university would serve as the hub.
She mentioned that the courses offered by KUST have a clear linkage with its core theme (science and technology) as well as the national development goals.
According to her, 12 programmes were submitted to the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) for approval, and 10 were approved by TEC for KUST to start offering in 2023/2024 academic year. The programmes are:
i. BSc. in Mining Engineering
ii. BSc. in Computer Science
iii. BSc. in Information Technology
iv. Diploma in Information Technology
v. BSc. in Information Systems
vi. BSc. in Livestock Management
vii. BSc. in Horticulture
viii. BSc. in Crop Production
ix. BSc. in Land Resource Management
x. and Diploma in Land Resource Management
She disclosed that a domain has been created for students to start their online application at the university via *kust.edu.sl* as part of the Ministry's efforts to move with the recent technological trend.
According to her, so far, 80 students have applied for admission into the university, and 20 of that number are female applicants, which speaks to Government's priority on women in the fields of science and technology.
*MTHE Comms Unit*
*Email:* info@mthe.gov.sl
*Website:* www.mthe.gov.sl
*Twitter:* @techhigheredu