Garissa University (GaU) is a government institution founded in Garissa County on 33.81 hectares of land taken over from Garissa Teachers Training College. GaU was established by an Act of Parliament as a constituent college of Moi University through a Gazette Notice Number 116 of 9^th September 2011. Garissa University College admitted its first cohort of 480 government-sponsored students on 7^th October 2013. The second cohort of 352 students joined in September 2014.

The Charter for a fully-fledged university status was granted on 23^rd October 2017. Currently, 2313 students are enrolled for postgraduate, undergraduate, diploma and certificate courses. The student population is served by 253 members of staff in academic and administrative units. The teaching, research and outreach activities of the university are executed by a strong and dedicated team of 45 faculty.

GaU is the only chartered government university in the arid Northern Kenya with the mandate of providing affordable quality higher education to students from the region and beyond. Northern Kenya makes up approx. 61% of Kenya’s land mass.

The University is located in a region where majority of the population are illiterate. Statistics from KNBS reveal that 3 in 4 people in Garissa, Wajir and Mandera counties are illiterate, cannot read nor write. According to the Census Data of 2019, a staggering 75% of the people of North Eastern Kenya who were age 3 years and above, against a national average of 16% never attended school. Only 21% against the national average of 83% were attending or left learning institutions after or before completion of studies. Moreover, children in NEP are twice less likely to attain university education compared to their counterparts in the rest of the Country with only 1% making it to university against a national average of 2.7%.

Garissa university was, therefore, established to play the critical and leading role of expanding opportunities for higher education, research and socio-economic development primarily in the Northern prefecture and broadly beyond its borders.

As we march into the future, we envision a world-class university driven by innovation through technological processes and development. We look and work forward to transforming our academic programmes and infrastructure to ultramodern levels that adequately prepare our students for jobs of the future.

PROFILE OF THE UNIVERSITY

GaU Vision

A world-class University of Technological processes and development.

GaU Mission

To nurture talent through research, innovation, consultancy, community outreach, entrepreneurship, imparting knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the society.

 GaU Core values

GaU upholds the following values:

1. Innovation: Embrace creativity and originality in all areas of operation.
2. Excellence: Commit to excellence and quality service.
3. Integrity: Commit to transparency, accountability, honesty and justice.
4. Professionalism: Demonstrate reliability, fair play and meritocracy.
5. Team work: Maintain synergy through cooperative effort.
6. Patriotism: Demonstrate loyalty that inspires public service delivery.
7. Social responsibility: Act in the best interest of the society.

GaU Philosophy

The university is focused on linking its niche to emerging issues in industry and society. The niche encompasses dry land agriculture, environmental and peace management, transformative education, and innovative instruction in entrepreneurship and technology.