The Department of Information Technology and ICT and Computer Services celebrated International Programmers Day on 13 September 2022 with senior IT students to honour programmers and innovators who make business, government and industry’s lives easier by innovating, designing, and coming up with solutions through developing programmes.

“In celebrating this day, the Department of Information Technology in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology as well as the ICT and Computer Services Unit commissioned 28 female senior IT students to conceptualise and develop an ICT-related solution in the form of a mobile app which will serve as a communication tool to keep the university connected to prospective students, current students, staff and alumni.  This assignment forms part of their Work Integrated Learning (WIL) programme, which allows them to gain much-needed work experience to solve real issues facing organisations”, said Prof. Muthoni Masinde, Head of the Department of Information Technology. 

“Globally, programmers are playing a critical role in the development of technological solutions required by various sectors such as government services, education sector, healthcare services and other critical fields that have seen extraordinary growth of programming as the backbone of innovations and design within the IT-related industry. As the university, we need to see more of our young women forming an integral part of the digital transformation agenda of the university”, said Prof. Alfred Ngowi, Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal.   

A hackathon will be set up to allow groups of senior students to compete and work around the clock to conceive this student-driven solution app and present it to a panel of experts,” he said.

Participating students felt that the initiative is exciting and inspiring as the university does not have such an app currently. They also believe that it will make their communication lines open and their student life easier.