Professionals from India have called for more investment in engineering education if the country is to widen its industrial base.

Prof. Mohsin Shaikh, from Signhad Technical Education Society (STE) Kigali campus, said about 82 per cent of African countries depend on agriculture, which is not enough to boost their economies.

This, he said, is the reason managers and engineers should boost their economy.

Prof. Shaikh was speaking to this paper after the launch of Signhad Techinical Education Society Kigali campus, last week.

The institute will be offering both engineering and management courses.

Dr Amarsigh Kanase-Patil, from the same institute, said Rwanda needs to invest more in human capital, productive capacity transition and environmental sustainability if it is to succeed both in economic and industrial development

He advised government to emulate India where a significant number of the population are engineers, a factor that helped fast-track the country’s development. 

"This country needs to empower people in science and technology through training of engineers and managers who work hand in hand in creation of new business ideas and also develop the growing needs of the public like transportation,” Dr Kanase-Patil said.

Oswald Rudahigwa, the STE coordinator, said professional engineers are still few in the country with only one institution offering degree programmes in the field.

"It’s only Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (now College of Science and Technology under the University of Rwanda) offering degree programmes in engineering,” he said.

Rudahigwa said STE focuses on industrial development and through showcasing the role engineers and managers play in job creation.

The institute’s goal is in line with Vision 2020 under which government seeks to transform the country into a middle class economy by 2020 through development of basic education and infrastructure.

Rudahigwa said they will help government in achieving Vision 2020 by offering training to students, including through external exposure.

"It will be compulsory for our undergraduates to do their internship in India since it is a more industrialised country. This will boost their practical abilities and also help them become engineers who invent and create,” he said.

Signhad Technical Education Society Kigali Campus admits students for both degree and masters programmes in the fields of civil engineering, computer, electronics and telecom engineering together with other management courses.