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by Emilia Ilieva (Author), Reuben Matheka (Author)
Thus Until: A History of Egerton University is a thorough, historical, chronological and well-researched account of Egerton University from a whites-only college when it started in 1939 through to the expansion it has experienced over the years, culminating in being a full university.
More than any other university in Kenya, Egerton has a long and colourful history; but like all the other universities, it has suffered from the political, economic and financial challenges of the time, especially since the double intake of the 1990s.
Chapter One provides the required background to the study, highlighting agricultural and educational policies and steering away from the "Happy Valley" hype so characteristic of the period. The reader will learn about the Egerton family in Chapter Two, and particularly about Lord Egerton himself and the colonial circumstances within which he lived. The chapter dispels some of the popularly held myths about him. Chapter Three deals with the beginnings of the college and the various structural and curriculum experiments tried out and the kind of enrolment and students it experimented with as an all-white establishment. The chapter ends with Africans beginning to agitate for change. With great attention to detail, the later chapters put the university in a broader local and international context, thereby increasing its relevance to society. A History of Egerton University, though heavily footnoted and with a detailed bibliography, is written in a simple, easy flowing and accessible style.
