Why there is need for Kenyan Universities to introduce fire engineering courses

 

In the last five to ten years, Kenya has had some of the worst fires in history resulting from both negligence and targeted attacks from terrorist. The country is in need of professionals in fire safety who can be able to localise their environmental needs based on their professionalism that span both academic and experience. At the moment Kenya bost of fire professionals who only have work experience to show in records and degree holders in fire safety and engineering can be counted and my study showed that in Kenya, the fire stations are headed by non-graduates and this to an extent delimit the stations ability in policy formulation and implementation. It is for this reason that Kenya requires graduates in the fire industry.

The current academic scenario

Today if you would want a career in fire safety or fire engineering in Kenya, your best bet would be to start do a certificate or a diploma course either offered by the public polytechnics or private colleges in Kenya. Studies in Kenya clearly showed that there is no university offering fire engineering course. Most of the university that have tried to incorporate the course like Moi University have it as a unit in Disaster Management. The certificates and diploma courses offered by the polytechnics and private colleges are neither regulated nor have standards set to gauge whether quality is met. And to add to the confusion, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has not established a curriculum in fire safety and only examines fire safety under civil engineering. All this has left many Kenyans choosing a career in fire safety and engineering to choose between the two external examining bodies i.e. Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The IFE is popularly accepted in the Kenyan fire industry especially with its three first levels of examinations and has a number of examination centers in the country. 

There has been discussions in the academic quotas in Kenya and East Africa that their graduates are half baked. But the missing link seems to be that the university courses on offer does not localise the trainings to the job market and graduates require more training after university to fit the market standards. This is a call to universities to study the market and implement courses as per the market standards, especially the specialized courses. Fire engineering is a specialized course and it is time for Kenyan Univeristies to consider introducing fire engineering at the undergraduate level to feed the rising need for these professionals in the industry.

[The writer is research student at the University of Nairobi]