President William Ruto has challenged Kenyan universities to move beyond awarding degrees and make research, innovation and knowledge production a direct driver of jobs, businesses and economic growth.
Speaking at Kisumu State Lodge on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, during the issuance of a Letter of Interim Authority to Kamagambo University, Ruto said the value of a university should be measured by the solutions it creates for society and the contribution its graduates and research make to the economy.
He said nations that have achieved prosperity did so by deliberately building institutions that turn knowledge into practical solutions, calling on Kenyan universities to play a similar role in the country’s development.
“Every nation that has made the leap to prosperity has thought, innovated, and invented its way there; in laboratories, lecture halls and libraries built deliberately to turn knowledge into progress. That is what a university is for; not merely the certificates it awards, but the capacity it builds. It develops talent, strengthens institutions, produces research that solves problems and generates ideas from which new industries arise. A university is where a nation prepares the minds that will build the future it envisions,” Ruto said.
The President spoke as Kenya’s university sector continues to produce more graduates, with data from the Commission for University Education showing that 123,928 students graduated from universities in 2024, compared with 99,829 in 2023.
Of the 2024 graduates, 91,210 came from public chartered universities, while 30,053 graduated from private chartered universities.
Ruto said the growing number of university graduates should be matched by greater production of knowledge and practical solutions within Kenya rather than continued dependence on ideas and expertise from outside the country.
“A country that continually imports knowledge will continually import solutions. Kenya must become a nation that produces knowledge, applies it, and exports it,” the Head of State maintained.
He said research should not remain confined to academic journals but should be taken into farms, schools, hospitals, factories and businesses where it can address real challenges, lower costs, improve productivity and create employment.
“Research must also travel. It must leave the journal and reach the farm, the classroom, the clinic, the factory, and the marketplace. A publication records an idea; and national transformation begins when that idea improves a life, lowers a cost, raises productivity, or creates a job,” Ruto said.
Kenya currently spends about 0.8% of its GDP on research and development, according to the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation, against an ambition to gradually increase the allocation to 2%.
Ruto said achieving greater economic value from research would require closer cooperation between universities, industry and government, with each playing a role in connecting education, research and enterprise.
“That requires a new compact among universities, industry, and government. Employers must help shape relevant curricula, universities must expose students to real workplaces and real problems, and Government must create the conditions in which research becomes technology, technology becomes enterprise and enterprise becomes employment.”
The President said Kenya’s ability to sustain economic growth would increasingly depend on how well it develops and applies knowledge across different sectors.
Kenya’s real GDP grew by 4.6% in 2025, according to the 2026 Economic Survey, while information and communication expanded by 4.8%, financial and insurance activities by 6.5% and construction by 6.8%.
Ruto said universities must respond to the changing economic needs by producing graduates who can create value rather than focusing only on securing formal employment.
“Yet expansion alone is not enough. Access without quality disappoints the student and quality without relevance disappoints the nation. Our universities will ultimately be judged by the competence of their graduates, the value of their research and the solutions they deliver to society,” he stressed.
He urged universities to equip young people with the skills and mindset needed to identify challenges, develop solutions and build enterprises around them.
“They must therefore prepare young people not only to compete for jobs, but also to create enterprises and transform entire sectors. Every graduate should leave university asking: What problem can I solve? What value can I create? and whose life can I improve?” Ruto said.
The President pointed to Kamagambo University’s decision to include entrepreneurship in two of its first three degree programmes as an example of how universities can connect learning with enterprise creation.
“Kamagambo has chosen entrepreneurship as a defining feature of two of its first three programmes. This must be reflected in practice and that commitment must live beyond the classroom. Students must encounter businesses, test ideas, build prototypes, understand markets, and learn how enterprises survive and grow,” he said.
Ruto said the new university should ensure its focus on entrepreneurship goes beyond the classroom by giving students exposure to businesses, markets and practical challenges.
He maintained that the long-term success of Kamagambo University, like other institutions of higher learning, would depend on the knowledge it generates, the businesses it helps create and the economic and social challenges its research helps solve.