Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Master of Sustainable Management and Operations (SuMO) is a new two-year masters level program that is being offered at the Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nairobi, in collaboration with Kuehne Logistics University, Hamburg, Germany. The scholarships are offered through the Africa Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Operations for Resource Management and Food Supply (SCO) established with the financial support of DAAD. The Centre brings together University of Nairobi (UoN), the University of Dar es Salaam (UDBS), the Kuehne Logistics University (KLU) and Kühne Foundation to jointly contribute to enhanced skills and knowledge in sustainable management and operations.
The SuMO Program will impart students with skills and knowledge required for sustainable business operations. Successful candidates will learn from highly interdisciplinary team drawn from professors and industry professionals in agribusiness, operations management, supply chains, agricultural economics, business science and sustainability. This will holistically equip them with requisite skills and knowledge on sustainable operations which have been missing in the conventional business management trainings, making the program unique.
Who can apply?
One can apply for the SuMO scholarship if they meet the following criteria:
 An earned BSc, BA or related degree in agribusiness, agricultural economics, operations management, business administration, management science, supply chains and related fields
 Outstanding academic performance with Second Class Upper Division or above for undergraduate or equivalent GPA score
 Experience in undertaking basic research in agribusiness, business, supply chains, operations management or related fields will be an added advantage
 Basic analytical and research skills using relevant data analysis softwares
 Excellent written and spoken English
Application documents
Application documents to be submitted should include:
1. Hand signed motivation letter of not more than 1 page written in Times New Romans, font 12 and single spaced
2. Copies of academic degree certificates
3. Copies of academic transcripts, incl. grading-scale
4. Copies of school final national exam certificates
5. One letter of recommendation from a senior academic person conversant with your academic background (must be on a letterhead, hand signed and officially stamped and of recent date)
6. Copy of Curriculum Vitae
Programs overview
The program will take two years on full-time basis starting from October 2024. The first year will be dedicated to course work and at the same time, the candidate will be expected to develop their proposal with support from the supervisors. The subsequent one year will be dedicated to research work including data collection, analysis, preparation of publication papers and final thesis report. The programs priority research areas are: Sustainability, Operations Management, Food/Agricultural Logistics and related subjects.
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Supervision and support
The candidates will have a supervisor from UoN and if possible external supervisors from UDSM or an international professor from KLU or from the global Kuehne Foundation academic network. They will also have many great opportunities to enhance their scientific and professional skills from the pool of professors in the Africa Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Operations for Resource Management and Food Supply (SCO).
Publications
Although publications are not mandatory for this program, candidates are encouraged to publish at least one journal article before graduating.
Scholarship

There will be a scholarship to cover the costs in full for the first year, and pro-rata for the period October-December 2025.
Application contacts and deadlines
Application documents should be sent to mercyn@uonbi.ac.ke with a copy to agecon@uonbi.ac.ke on or before 15th June 2024 in ONE email. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for oral interviews.