1. MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY Dr. Ruth Thinguri – Dean School of Education 41 st KESSHA Conference, 20 th – 24 th June 2016 “Rebranding the Teaching Profession”

2. INTRODUCTION  Mount Kenya University, both as a sponsor and copartner with Kenya Secondary school Heads Association (KESSHA) accolade you as you take steps to rebrand the teaching profession in line with 21 st century demands  We assure you of our total support as a copartner in the teaching profession through The School of Education and other schools as well.

3. SCHOOL BRANDING AND REBRANDING  The term “School Brand”, similar to "brand" is any type of term, mark or insignia, which identifies one organization or product from another (Gallup Business Journal, 2015)  These marks are intended to indicate an affiliation with a particular school, group, organization, trade, manufacturer, or maker. In our case teaching profession

4. SCHOOL BRANDING AND REBRANDING  Schools adopted branding in the early 2000s, when they realized that learning had evolved into a marketplace of customers and providers.  Rebranding entails a purposeful examination of an institution’s values, culture and competitive advantage.  Rebranding is based on the need to critically reexamine what makes an organization unique relative to its competitors, and used to craft and deliver a cohesive, meaningful message to the market.

5. SCHOOL BRANDING AND REBRANDING  Today’s school branding goes a step further and identifies a school’s unique competitive advantage.  Which is as a result of rise of private schools-preschools, primary, secondary universities and online universities has created more choices for students, and those newer schools are aggressively marketing in corporate style.  Students are becoming more diverse, and schools can no longer take demographics for granted.  At the same time, schools ranging from primary, to colleges and universities, have to compete harder for government funding and private endowments

6. ( MKU)REBRANDING NICHE Mount Kenya University has not been left behind in the rebranding spirit through  Regulatory and accreditation compliance  Career and professional advancement opportunities  Quality and affordable professional training  Variety and flexible academic programmes  Quality Research supervision and publications outlets

7. REGULATORY AND ACCREDITATION COMPLIANCE  MKU and school of education academic programmes, teaching and research in compliance with  University Education Act  Teacher service commission (TSC) guidelines  Commission for University Education (CUE)  Kenya Bureau standards (KEBS)  ISO 9001:2008 Certification.  Quality Management Standards (QMS)

8. CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL ADVANCEMENT OPPORTUNITIES Mount Kenya University has the following fifteen schools/faculties which are accredited by the Commission for University Education and relevant regulatory bodies.  Business and Economics,  Education,  Law,  Medical,  Nursing,  Pharmacy,  Pure and Applied Sciences,  School of Allied Health Sciences,

9. CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL ADVANCEMENT OPPORTUNITIES  Public Health,  Clinical Medicine,  Computing and Informatics,  Engineering, Energy And Built Environment,  Hospitality,Travel And Tourism Management,  Social Sciences, and  Postgraduate Studies.

10. CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL ADVANCEMENT OPPORTUNITIES The School of Education, specifically, offers certificates, diploma, undergraduate (Bachelor of Education), and postgraduate (M.Ed, Ph.D) programmes in the following areas:-  Certificates-Special Needs, – Early Childhood Education and Development  Diploma-ECDE, Special Needs, Arts/Sciences  B.Ed – Early Childhood Education and Development  B.Ed – Special Needs  B.Ed – Arts/Sciences  B.Ed – Primary Option  M.Ed – Education specialization  Ph.D – Education Specialization and ECDE

11. QUALITY AND AFFORDABLE PROFESSIONAL TRAINING  Academic programmes developed in compliance with CUE and TSC guidelines  Competitive college fees, Government funding and HELB – check the new fees guidelines  Teaching and learning monitoring and evaluation to ensure students receive training worthy their fees-Directorate of Quality Assurance  Course progression tracking to ensure timely completion of training

12. VARIETY AND FLEXIBLE ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES  From certificate diploma, bachelor, masters to PhD  More then 15 programmes offered in SOE  New curricula underway  Regular/day programmes  Evening programmes  Virtual campus programmes  School based programmes rebranded to include mentored work based assignments(WBA)

13. QUALITY RESEARCH SUPERVISION AND PUBLICATIONS OUTLETS  Research and publication quality ensured through compliance with:  National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) –Research permit  Mount Kenya University Ethics Review Committee (MKU-ERC)  TURNITIN –anti plagiarism  Post graduate programmes guidelines via student handbook  Monthly and quarterly progress reporting to track progress  Timely completion of research projects and theses

14. LEARNING FACILITIES AVAILABLE FOR YOU Ample lecture theatres Study villas with free Wi-Fi  Well-equipped Science laboratories  Business mentorship & funding for alumni through the GEA

15. CONCLUSION  Finally, I wish to invite all of you to visit Mount Kenya University stand to find out more on programmes of your interest for your students, yourself or your child or friend.  Take advantage of free nutrition advice through screening for blood sugar, blood pressure and Nutrition Education THANK YOU