Kenya and South Korea will on Tuesday sign a pact that will see the Asian nation put Sh10 billion towards construction of a public research university at Konza Techno City.
The move is part of President Park Geun-hye’s two-day visit to Nairobi.
Ministry of Education officials are Tuesday morning expected to ink the deal with Korean Export and Import (Exim) Bank that will open the way for Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kaist) to set shop at Konza.
Kaist is a public research university for the industrialised Asian nation, which Kenya is keen to emulate.
Kenyan government officials have recently shifted focus to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses in institutions of higher learning in the quest to create a large pool of specialists to industrialise the economy by 2030.
“We are going to build from scratch an equivalent of Kaist at an estimated cost of $100 million (Sh10 billion),” said Victor Kyalo, the Principal Secretary for ICT, which is in charge of Konza smart city.
The Korean university last September announced that it was in talks with the Ministry of Education and the Konza Techonopolis Development Authority (KoTDA), overseeing the project, on the modalities of setting up at Konza.
President Geun-hye arrived in Nairobi on Monday and is expected to hold discussions with President Uhuru Kenyatta on trade, investment, infrastructure and education.
“The information and communication’s technology field, which both Korean and the Kenyan governments have been assiduously nurturing, can be an important area of such co-operation,” she said in an opinion piece in the dailies ahead of her visit.
“I hope that Korean Government’s creative economy initiative, in which advanced science and technology is implemented across the industries can create jobs further develop the national economy, will contribute to the Kenyan Government efforts to achieve Vision 2030,” she added.
Kaist is funded by the Korean government to exploit science and technology through research and development, to keep the wheels of the industrialised nation running. Bilateral trade between Nairobi and Seoul is titled in favour of the Asian economy.
Official data shows that Kenya imported Sh18.8 billion worth of goods from Korea last year compared to Sh1.7 billion that Nairobi sold to Seoul. At Sh18.8 billion, Korea’s imports to Kenya are the fifth largest from Asia, behind China, India, Indonesia and Japan.Kenya’s imports from Korea stood at 26.3 billion in 2011, Sh22.5 billion in 2012, Sh29.1 billion in 2014 before plunging to Sh18 billion in 2015.
Konza is among the Vision 2030 flagship projects and upon completion of Phase 1, the smart city is expected to create more than 20,000 jobs. The technopolis is expected to host various amenities, including ICT research centres, a university complex, offices, residential houses and parks.
