By: Sumaya Hussein (husseinsumaya1@gmail.com)
Thumbnail photo courtesy of Moses Wafula
Freshmen of January 2021 semester were officially matriculated into the University on Wednesday, in a ceremony held at the Daystar main campus in Athi River. The matriculation ceremony signifies the formal entry of freshmen into the University by taking a matriculation oath.
Those in attendance during the Matriculation ceremony were the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Laban Ayiro, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Affairs and Research, Prof. Faith Nguru, as well as other members of the faculties and staff.
The VC and DVC led the freshmen into taking the pledge, thereby officially admitting them as students of Daystar University.
“With the authority given to me by the University Council, I hereby admit you to pursue the courses in the discipline of your calling,” said the VC Prof Ayiro.
“This (oath) will initiate you to formally become a student of this great University, and doing so also comes with a number of responsibilities, the most important being your obligation to contribute for the realization of the University’s mission and vision, as well as your own mission and vision,” said DVC Prof. Nguru to the freshmen.
This semester’s freshmen will be among the first to experience a different learning approach that is problem-based and collaborative learning. The new teaching method introduced by the VC Prof. Ayiro, aims to produce students who are problem solvers. “The Daystar you are coming into is a Daystar that aspires to teach the way Harvard, Stanford and Oxford University teaches,” said Prof Ayiro during the matriculation ceremony.
Currently, the University is offering blended learning whereby classes are partly physical and partly online. Covid-19 protocols have been ramped up in both campuses ahead of physical classes and include handwashing and sanitization points, isolation rooms and social-distance markings in classrooms and public places.