Islamic faith-based UMMA University is set to build two hostel blocks for its students for Sh770 million as the institution races to provide accommodation for its growing population.
Regulatory disclosures show that the property will have a capacity of 316 beds and will include ablution blocks, common rooms, laundry areas and supporting infrastructure.
Currently, a section of the UMMA students reside outside the main campus along the Nairobi-Namanga highway, a scenario that the university says poses a security threat to the learners, besides adding to their costs while pursuing studies. The institution says it has over 2,000 students.
Private universities, including UMMA, have recorded a surge in enrollment numbers in the past few years, with the total population rising to 589,907 in the year to June 2026 from 516,151 a year earlier.
“The proposed development is intended to expand on-campus student accommodation in response to growing enrolment, and will comprise two (2) hostel blocks with a capacity of 316 bed spaces, together with associated ablution blocks, common rooms, laundry areas and support infrastructure,” the university says in regulatory disclosures.
The project will comprise two separate blocks for male and female students, each with a capacity of 158 beds. Each of the blocks will have four floors in addition to the ground floor.
UMMA was founded in 1997 as Thika College of Sharia and Islamic Studies and upgraded to a private university in 2013 before getting its full charter in 2019.
Most of the country’s universities (private and public) have turned to investors to help resolve the accommodation nightmare facing them due to increased enrollment.
Hostel developer Acorn Holdings Limited has partnered with universities to develop hostels for students outside the campuses.
Acorn develops the hostels under its two brands, Qwetu and Qejani, and in recent years helped to ease an accommodation nightmare that would have faced the students due to growing enrolment rates amid underinvestment by the learning institutions.
It is estimated that nearly a quarter of the university students live outside the various campuses, mainly due to the
Acorn targets locations near private and public institutions and provides buses to pick up and drop off students living in its hostels.
Some of the institutions with such deals with Acorn include the University of Nairobi, Strathmore University, Daystar University, United States International University-Africa, and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
