By Brenda Odhiambo

The Kenya Education Network Trust (KENET) has partnered with Telkom to offer an internet access bundle to USIU-Africa staff and faculty who are currently working remotely. The 4G LTE SIM cards are loaded with 30GB monthly bundles and they can also be loaded with airtime if staff need to use them for ordinary calls. The SIM cards work best with 4G LTE devices (tablet or MiFi) and in major towns in Kenya.

This comes a few weeks after the University partnered with Safaricom to offer the ‘Remote learning Mobile Data Bundle Subsidy’, which enables students and faculty access 10 GB data bundle at a discounted cost of Ksh. 500 for a period of 30 days to enhance their access to e-learning platforms, and with Telkom to provide the ‘Soma na Telkom Bundles’ will allow both faculty and students to purchase 30 GB of data bundles at Kshs. 999 to access the University’s online learning platforms such as Blackboard, the library video conferencing and the Student Information System.

Speaking after the unveiling of the partnership, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Ruthie Rono noted that the partnership was among the many initiatives the University was working on to ensure that online learning remained as seamless as possible.

“The University is committed to ensuring that its core mandate of teaching and learning continues, even as we continue navigating the Coronavirus pandemic. We were able to successfully complete the Spring semester, and even administer the examinations, with the Summer semester currently underway. Our aim is to continue offering our students the world-class education which USIU-Africa is known for,” she said.

Access to the bundles will give priority to full-time or part-time faculty who are currently teaching remotely. Other priority staff include researchers and employees who are required to work remotely from home. Authentication shall be either against databases used for Eduroam or other automated university identity management databases.