USIU-Africa, Safaricom deal to provide subsidized e-learning tariffs

USIU-Africa has partnered with Safaricom to launch a subsidized mobile data bundle dubbed ‘Remote learning Mobile Data Bundle Subsidy’ for students and faculty in order to enhance online e-learning and teaching at the University.

Through the partnership, students and faculty will get a 10GB data bundle at a discounted cost of Ksh 500 for a period of 30 days to enhance their access to e-learning programs. The same data bundle costs Ksh. 1,800 in the market. In addition, students and faculty who may have challenges accessing a device will also have an option to procure one through this service.

Since the outbreak of highly infectious Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) virus in the country, higher institutions of learning have been forced to fully embrace e-learning and teaching solution as part of the measures being taken to curb the spread of the disease through social distancing as the country closely monitors the evolving dynamics of the pandemic and its impact on the country.

“As you are aware, we have been conducting online learning and teaching over the last three weeks in a bid to complete the spring semester. This was as a result of the government’s directive to close all universities in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 after Kenya reported its first case on March 15, 2020”, explained Prof. Paul Zeleza, Vice Chancellor, USIU-Africa.

The Vice Chancellor however, said despite the closure of the university, learning is still going on through the use of online learning platforms such as Blackboard as a mode of instruction, Zoom as video conferencing tool and e-books, e-journals and other e-resources from the library to ensure academic continuity and maintain quality of education