Strathmore University signs cooperation pact with US giant EMC2

Strathmore University and global firm EMC², the Massachusetts headquartered data storage, information security and cloud computing giant, have announced signing of a cooperation partnership that will see the two bodies collaborate and EMC² actively share knowhow, tools and resources with the leading Kenyan university.

Dr. Joseph Sevilla Strathmore University’s Dir­ector of the @iLabAfrica Research Centre and  Mr Said Rechchad, EMC’s Gen­eral Man­ager, South and East Africa who signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two institutions, said the development would further advance Strathmore University’s training edge in cloud computing, information security technology and data science in Sub Saharan Africa.

“EMC² has noted the high accomplishment by Strathmore University in delivering peerless technology and innovation training. We have committed to deliver to them access to training resources and information in data storage, information security and cloud computing to help them impart most recent skills to their students, to help meet international IT skills demand in the region,” said Mr. Rechchad.

The announcement comes a week before the 3 day 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit expected in Nairobi from July 24^th.

Under the agreement, Strathmore University’s @ iLabAfrica Research Centre will access tools for big data analytics, information on data storage management and the latest research and training materials from EMC² on cloud infrastructure and Data Science. The University said it would use these to introduce new courses aided by an access to the EMC²’s VMWare IT Academy.

“This is an important milestone for us at Strathmore University and @iLabAfrica IT Research Centre as it will help our students draw benefit from the VMWare IT Academy, in line with our vision of providing the latest of global technology tools and peerless training here in Africa,” said Dr. Sevilla.

Strathmore University Council has institutionalized active leveraging of local and international linkages and industry collaboration in verifying currency of skills and training for its entire undergraduate, graduate schools and research centers. The not-for-profit University is seeing increasing goodwill from leading global corporations due to its visible unique efforts to equip students for leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Strathmore was recently also recognized by President Uhuru Kenyatta when it hosted the launch of the global entrepreneurship Summit GES2015 on June 9^th  2015 for its strict ethics training. The GES2015 Kenya launch preceded the main Summit which will be presided by US President, Barack Obama next week.