Machakos University was founded in 1957 as a Technical Rural Training School by the then colonial government. It was converted into Machakos Technical and Trade School in 1958, Machakos Technical School in 1967, and Machakos Technical Training Institute in 1987.
The institution was upgraded to Machakos University College through Legal Notice No. 130, on 16 September 2011. The journey towards achieving a full University status started in earnest right at the inception. The University College had six degree programmes across its five initially constituted schools — School of Engineering & Technology, School of Education, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, and the School of Business and Economics.
The University College embarked on a focused and sustained growth agenda involving recruitment of highly trained thematic leaders and expansion of infrastructure. This has seen the number of students grow from 2500 at inception to 9000 currently.
The number of schools has increased from the initial five to eight. The new schools are School of Agriculture & Natural Resource Management, School of Pure & Applied Sciences, and the School of Health Sciences.
The Commission for University Education has made three inspection visits to the institution and their reports have shaped the developments of the university to full-fledged status. Recently, the commission approved 27 programmes ranging from undergraduate, masters to PhD levels. At the heart of the Lower Eastern Region and only one kilometre from Machakos City along Machakos/Wote Road, the university is destined to continue its growth trajectory to world class status in the near future.
