Mount Kenya University (MKU) says 102 young Kenyans have now joined its nursing apprenticeship programme in Germany. The university aims to more than double that to over 200 health workers training in German hospitals.

The figure was announced when a group of MKU students working in Germany paid a courtesy call at the university's main campus in Thika. They are home on holiday after 18 months of work experience abroad.

'Reducing inequalities'

MKU founder and board chairman Prof Simon Gicharu said the scheme gave young Kenyans a route into global careers. "This programme is a true manifestation of reducing inequalities," he said.

Gicharu urged students not to limit themselves to the local job market. He said they should create opportunities instead of waiting only for formal employment. He praised the programme's hands-on design, in which about 97 per cent of the training is practical and three per cent theory. "You learn a skill and then spend much more time practising it," he said.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Deogratius Jaganyi said the university was committed to building international partnerships. Co-founder Dr Jane Nyutu and Dr Josephine Thua, Director of the Centre for Professional Development, also received the students.

How the programme works

  • MKU runs the scheme with Hochschule Koblenz University of Applied Sciences, while AG-Career Hub helps apprentices settle in.
  • Students learn German from level A1 to B2 before they travel.
  • Apprentices work in health facilities in German towns including Bad Mergentheim, Göttingen, Pirmasens and Alzey.
  • The sixth cohort left for Germany at the end of September.

Apprentices speak

Peter Muthaura, from the third cohort of 12 nursing students, works at a hospital in Bad Mergentheim. Lynn Brunei described her time abroad as "incredible". Chukulis Abdinoor Dima said the German language was hard at first, but local people had been friendly and welcoming.

A growing pipeline

The programme comes as Kenya increasingly sends nurses and other health workers abroad under labour mobility deals, while public hospitals at home complain of staff shortages and long strikes. Germany has been recruiting foreign nurses to fill gaps in its own care sector.

Reports on the programme give slightly different totals. MKU earlier said the sixth group brought the number deployed to 105, while Monday's announcement puts the number of apprentices at 102.

Photos: TV47 / Mount Kenya University (Prof Simon Gicharu with nursing apprentices; MKU students at the main campus). Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.