The Department of Linguistics and African Languages, in which Kiswahili is a central subject, was established in the Faculty of Arts at the University College of Nairobi in 1969. Since then, at least five more departments which are devoted to the teaching and study of the Kiswahili language and literature have been established in various Kenyan universities (see below). Most of these departments run post-graduate programmes leading to MA. and PhD - degrees. As a result, considerable research activity related to both the Kiswahili language and literature has been going on. This is evident from the dissertations that have been written and that continue to be written every year.