Mombasa Institute of Muslim Education (MIOME) was founded from capital raised by means of gifts of Kshs.100,000 from Sultan of Zanzibar and Kshs.50,000 by the Bohra Community of East Africa at the insistence of Doctor Sayedna Taher Saifuddin. Sheikh Mbarak Al-Hinawy who served as the Liwali (Governor) for the Coast of East Africa and Mombasa from 1941-1959 also had major contributions to MIOME’s development. As the Governor he was consulted by the Government about various aspects of the proposed school, including its charter.
In his capacity, he represented the Sultan of Zanzibar and closely worked with the British colonial government. Sheikh Khamis was a generous and enlightened philanthropist who sought to assist local causes. In 1948, he donated thirty-four (34) acres of land where the institute was built and another six (6) acres where the Prof. Ali Alamin Mazrui Campus stands. It was Sheikh Mbarak Al Hinawy who secured this prime land in Port Tudor from his close friend Sheikh Khamis. Without this land, MIOME would not have become a reality.
When MIOME was opened in 1951, the Sultan of Zanzibar Sheikh Khalifa bin Harab and Sheikh Mbarak Al-Hinawy were the key guests in the occasion. Sheikh Mbarak Ali-Hinawy was the founding member of MIOME’s Board of Governors.
At its inception, MIOME was charged with the prime objective of providing adequate technical education to Muslim students of East Africa. In May 1951, MIOME enrolled its first batch of students to undergo a technical education programme that placed special emphasis on Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Seamanship and Navigation, and Woodwork.
At independence, the Board of Governors accepted that if the institute was to play a full role in the development of the education system of independent Kenya, then its doors needed to be open to any qualifying students of all creeds.
In 1966 MIOME became Mombasa Technical Institute (MTI) and started to admit all Kenyans regardless of religion or race. In order to comply with the newly set educational policies of the independent Kenya, the curriculum of the institute was restructured with more new courses introduced that included Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Business Studies, Mathematics and Applied Sciences.
In the year 1976, MTI transformed to become the Mombasa Polytechnic, becoming the 2nd National Polytechnic in Kenya. The Mombasa Polytechnic continued to develop more market-driven programs, anchored on the six established Departments of Business Studies, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Building and Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Engineering and Applied Sciences.
In a government strategy to increase access to university education across the Country, the dream to convert the Polytechnic to a University College was realized on 23rd August 2007, through Legal Notice No. 160, when The Mombasa Polytechnic University College (MPUC) was established.
The University College status resulted in many positive changes implemented with great support by the Government of Kenya, including recruitment and development of staff, expansion of infrastructure, provision of facilities, and introduction of new academic programmes under the mentorship of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. All these came at a time when the Country had started warming up to the Kenya Vision 2030.
In 2013 Mombasa Polytechnic University College (MPUC) transitioned to the Technical University of Mombasa- a fully-fledged University. The University has FIVE well-established Schools and two Institutes namely; School of Applied and Health Sciences, School of Engineering and Technology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Business, School of Graduate Studies, Institute of Computing and Informatics and TUM TVET Institute.
The University has programmes range from Certificates, Diplomas, Degrees, Masters and Ph.D. The student statistics currently stand at 19,627. The University also recognizes the importance of human capital in driving the vision of the institution. A number of human resource management policies have been developed to guard against loss in human capital while also attracting the best capital in the region. To this effect, the University boasts 586 staff.