KIBABII UNIVERSITY 

Department of Social Work & Criminology Proposed Curriculum Stakeholders Workshop in Kibabii University

The Department of Social Work and Criminology held its virtual/face to face proposed curriculums stakeholders workshop on 13th April 2023 which brought together experts, professionals, current students, graduates and lecturers in the disciplines of Criminology and Social Work. The workshop which was officially opened by the Ag. Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) Academics & Students Affairs (ASA) Prof. Julius Maiyo who represented the Vice-Chancellor saw the department engaging the various stakeholders in the three disciplines of Criminology, Social Work and Sociology to discuss the proposed programmes of Master of Criminology, Master of Social Work and Bachelors of Sociology.  In attendance were the Ag.Dean Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences (FASS) Dr. Joseph Musungu and the Chief Guest Dr. Paul Sutter and members of the teaching staff in the department.

In his opening remarks the Ag.DVC ASA conveyed the message of the VC who thanked the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) and specifically the department of Social Work & Criminology for this noble exercise and steps taken to ensure that the process is adequately guided by the Commission of University Education (CUE) and University regulations so as to ensure the best standards are achieved. He reminded the participants that no curriculum in this country can be approved without the participation of stakeholders as these are powers given to them by the commission. The DVC stressed the importance of stakeholders as they bring wealth of market experiences and input and to ensure a rich curriculum students, alumni, potential employers, professional bodies among others must have a stake in it.

On his part while making his opening remarks the Chief Guest Dr. Sutter reinforced the remarks of the Ag.DVC ASA on the importance of the stakeholders forum as per the CUE requirements and thanked the University for including him in this noble exercise. He stressed that a good curricular is that which has both local and international market appeal and aligned with national and government’s policies which includes Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Kenya-Kwanza Economic  Blueprint, Digitization, Infrastructure Development, Universal Health, Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) Climate Change among others.

The Ag.Dean FASS Dr. Musungu thanked the department of Social Work & Criminology for their relentless efforts of ensuring that the proposed curriculums are exposed to these rigorous processes which will allow them be owned by each and every stakeholder and also comply with the CUE and the University requirements. He thanked every participant who sacrificed their time to ensure the success of this exercise and promised that the Faculty will support the department throughout this process that will lead to the success of these three proposed curriculums.

The Chair of Department (SW&C) Dr. Mark Leting thanked the University management for facilitating this workshop with immense support and allowing the department source for experts from the different fields to help in building curriculums that has the interest of the various industries. He also thanked the various participants who brought their wealth of knowledge and made the day a success.

The day long workshop saw the three curriculums getting a wealth of feedback from a range of experts who included from the academia; the chief guest Dr. Paul Sutter, Dr. Evans Oruta an expert in Criminology, Dr. Patricia Kariaga an expert in Social Work, senior law enforcement personnel, senior probation officers, correctional officers, medical social workers, senior children’s officers, staff from the various departments of Gender, staff in the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) among others.

In his closing remarks the Chief Guest Dr. Sutter again thanked the University Management, the Faculty and the Department for allowing the market to interrogate the three proposed programmes and that he was looking forward to curriculums that have housed the views and recommendations of the various stakeholders and experts from the different fields.