Consolata International University

In 1970, the Consolata Missionaries in Kenya, following the directives of the then Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (now, Dicastery for Evangelization), and the encouragement of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA – Lusaka, Zambia, 1970), decided to start their own seminary. In 1970, the recruitment of the African Consolata Missionaries' candidates for religious missionary priesthood began.

The construction of the residential building of the seminary near St. Thomas Aquinas National Diocesan Seminary in Langata started in 1971 and in 1972, part I of it was ready. The first Consolata Missionaries' philosophy seminarians began attending classes at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary. However, in 1974, when the Philosophical programme of studies was transferred to St. Augustine National Diocesan Major Seminary in Mabanga – Bungoma, it was necessary to have classrooms and other facilities for Consolata students in the same compound where they resided. Thus, in 1974, a two-year diploma course in philosophy and religious studies was started at Consolata Seminary. This was the genesis of what later on became Consolata Institute of Philosophy.

In order to meet the increasing number of Consolata Missionaries' students and even opening up to those from other Religious Congregations, new buildings were added in the early eighties. In 1980, the curriculum of studies was revised to three years. This was to allow the students–from 1982 onwards– to conclude their studies with an Ecclesiastical Degree (Baccalaureate in Philosophy), recognized by the Catholic Church, in line with Ecclesiastical Universities all over the world.

In 1996, it was decided that the Consolata Seminary and the Consolata Institute of Philosophy be separate and independent institutions in order to allow each one to develop in its own way. Thus, separate buildings were put up for the Consolata Institute of Philosophy: 1997 – main building that was officially inaugurated in 1998; 1998 – Library; 2003 – multipurpose hall and 2009 – Language Centre.

The Consolata Institute of Philosophy has been offering its own recognized diplomas. From 2018, under the collaboration with the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), it has been offering bachelor degrees in philosophy.

After some years of deliberations and discernment, the Consolata Missionaries in Kenya, in consultation with the Consolata Missionaries' General Council in Rome, Italy, decided to upgrade the Consolata Institute of Philosophy to a University. After fulfilling the necessary requirements of the Kenyan Commission for University Education (CUE), the Consolata Institute of Philosophy was officially upgraded, publicly accredited and recognized as a University with a Letter of Interim Authority (LIA) on the 20th of August 2025, with the official name – Consolata International University. The university currently has three schools: School of Philosophy, School of Theology and School of Psychology, and a Language Centre. Other schools offering different academic programmes will be set up gradually as the university grows and develops.