Kenyatta University
public university in Nairobi, Kenya

Kenyatta University (KU) is a public university with its main campus in Nairobi, Kenya. It acquired the status of university in 1985, being the third university after University of Nairobi (1970) and Moi University (1984). As of October 2014, it was one of 23 public universities in the country.
Location
The main campus of Kenyatta University sits on over 1,000 acres (1.6 mi2), at Kahawa, in the Kasarani Sub-county, north of Nairobi City County, approximately 17.5 kilometres (10.9 mi), by road, northeast of the central business district of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, off of the Nairobi-Thika Road.
The list of KU campuses includes the following locations:
Main Campus - Kahawa, Nairobi
Ruiru Campus - Ruiru
Parklands Campus - Parklands
Kitui Campus - Kwa Vonza
Mombasa Campus - Mombasa
City Centre Campus - Nairobi Central Business District
Nyeri Campus - Nyeri
Nakuru Campus - Nakuru
Kericho Campus - Kericho - closed
Dadaab Campus -Dadaab
Embu Campus - Embu
Ruiru Campus was renamed as Kenyatta Model School for play groups, pre-primary and primary learners in 2024. The Arusha and Kigali campuses in Tanzania and Rwanda respectively were closed in 2018.
History
In 1965, the British government handed over the Templar Barracks in Kahawa, to the newly formed government of Kenya. The southern part of the facility remains in military use, as the Kahawa Barracks. The other part of the barracks were converted into a college called Kenyatta College, which offered Advanced Level (A-Level) secondary education at Form 5 and 6 level, as well as some undergraduate diploma courses. In 1978 the entire Faculty of Education of the University of Nairobi was transferred to Kenyatta College, and its name was changed to Kenyatta University College, following an Act of Parliament.
“Kenyatta University” enters the record as public university in Nairobi, Kenya. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kenyatta, University and public can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Kenyatta University” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Kenyatta, University and public provides the most credible route into that argument.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q46756. VIAF identifies the subject as 126727621. The Library of Congress control number is n85020472. Authority coordinates are -1.180, 36.933. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1985, 1970, 1984 and 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kenyatta University” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.