The Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering is among the first departments set up in this university in 1956 in the then Royal Technical College. This college was later transformed and upgraded by an Act of the East African High Commission on 25 th June 1961 into the second University College in East Africa under the name "Royal College Nairobi".

On 20 th May 1964, the Royal College Nairobi was renamed University College Nairobi and on attainment of "University College" status, the institution was admitted into special relation with the University of London in February 1961. From this stage the Department of Mechanical Engineering started training students in East Africa for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (University of London).

In June 1963, the University of East Africa was inaugurated and students started enrolling for B.Sc. Degree in Mechanical Engineering of the University of East Africa. The University of East Africa was later dissolved in July 1, 1970 and through an Act of Parliament the University of Nairobi was set up. Henceforth students enrolling in the department prepared for a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering of the University of Nairobi. The department continued training students in Mechanical Engineering from the three East African states i.e. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania up to about 1980. Thereafter, the majority of students trained have largely been Kenyans.

The Mechanical Engineering curriculum, reviewed severally, has been offered at the University of Nairobi for over five decades. In 2020, the university senate approved a new curriculum. The motivation to review the curriculum came from consideration of the following factors:

1. The need to keep abreast of technological advances. This dictates that new content be incorporated while other content, which might have become obsolete, is expunged or revised.
2. The need to comply with emerging regulatory requirements such as those issued by the Commission for University Education (CUE)
3. The desire to introduce some element of specialization given that the breadth of mechanical engineering has grown as a result of technological advancement.

To achieve the above objectives, the following changes were incorporated during the review:

1. The course descriptions were rewritten to be consistent with the guidelines issued by CUE, specifically ensuring that the learning process is outcome-based.
2. Introduction of two courses in Engineering Mechanics (covering “Statics” and “Dynamics”) to replace courses in Applied Maths.
3. Re-alignment of the courses in “Engineering Drawing” to emphasize computer-aided drawing, solid modelling, and similar digital techniques.
4. The introduction of courses on the computational modelling of mechanical systems. This recognizes the increasing role of numerical modelling in engineering.
5. Introduction of a course on “Micro Controllers” to prepare the learners for the dictates of manufacturing automation.
6. Introduction of clusters of elective (optional) courses in the final year of study to introduce an element of specialization for the learners.
7. Introduction of courses in entrepreneurship, project management, building services engineering and innovation

Contact us

Tel:     +254 02 4913527
Fax:    + 254 02 318262
Email: dept-mmengineering@uonbi.ac.ke

P. O. Box 30197 NAIROBI - 00100 G.P.O .
Main Campus, Mechanical Engineering Building 3rd Floor