Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute (KWSTI).
Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute is a Public College accredited by Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA).
Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute
Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute (KWSTI) is a middle-level college located in Naivasha about 90km from Nairobi. It is registered with the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology as a TVET institution. KWSTI provides specialized training in Natural Resource Management and Tourism Development in an effort to enhance the Conservation, Management, and Sustainability of Wildlife biodiversity in Kenya and globally. Courses are offered at Certificate and Diploma levels with curricula designed on a Competency-based basis with Modules of Employable Skills (MES) when desired.
Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute is located 90 km southwest of the city of Nairobi. It is situated in a serene, pristine, and scenic site that is ideal for training in wildlife management, tourism and hospitality management, and fisheries. An abundance of wildlife roams the institute grounds that include giraffe, impala, waterbuck, wildebeest, waterbuck, zebra, eland, buffalo, warthog, and hippopotamus. The institute land has a lake Naivasha frontage where a fisheries teaching annex is located.
There are three teaching campsites, a restaurant, guest rooms, guest houses, a museum, an aquarium, and nature trails.
The training programs at KWSTI are guided by approved competency-based curricula that were developed through a consultative and participatory process. The curricula are heavy on hands-on training geared towards producing skilled manpower in the fields of wildlife, fisheries, and tourism management.
Student enrollment at KWSTI has been growing over the years from the initial 72 students admitted when specialized courses were started in 2002 to a student population of 832 by December 2017.
Why study at Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute
The training programs at Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute (KWSTI) are guided by approved competency-based curricula that were developed through a consultative and participatory process. The curricula are heavy on hands-on training geared towards producing skilled manpower in the fields of wildlife, fisheries, and tourism management.
KWSTI won the best ecotourism training eco-warrior award in 2016. This meant that of all the institutions of higher learning in Kenya (universities, colleges, etc) that offer courses in ecotourism, KWSTI offers the best form of training in this field. There cannot be a greater achievement yet for KWSTI than this. The award recognized our efforts in transforming and reforming the Institute to make it a Center of Excellence in ecotourism training.
Our History
Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute (KWSTI) was established following provisions of the wildlife policy contained in the sessional paper No 3 of 1975, ‘Statement of the Future of Wildlife Management Policy in Kenya’ (Republic of Kenya 1975). The sessional paper spelled out a need to build capacity in view of an important shift in wildlife conservation policy that was intended to harmonize conservation with economic and social development.
Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute (KWSTI) was opened in 1985 as Naivasha Wildlife and Fisheries Training Institute to offer an in-service training institute for the then departments of wildlife and fisheries under the Ministry of tourism and wildlife. The first group of students in 1985 comprised newly appointed university graduate Assistant Wardens and Fisheries Officers on an induction course.
The land on which KWSTI is located was declared the Naivasha Wildlife Training Institute Local Sanctuary through gazette notice No. 84 dated 6th June 2000. The institute was given a provisional registration as a Technical, Industrial, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training (TIVET) Institution on 1st July 2009 and was subsequently given authority to examine and award Diplomas and Certificates under the Education Act (Cap 211) through gazette notice No. 1615 dated 17th February 2012. KWSTI was the 3rd TVET institution in Kenya to be awarded authority to examine and award its own certificates through the Education Act (CAP 211).
