The number of Rwandan students benefiting from scholarships provided by the Chinese government has doubled from an average of 40-50 students to 80 this year.

China is a competitive destination for Rwandan students on a scholarship basis. Since the 1980s, more than 1500 Rwandan students have completed their studies in China with scholarships.

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On Wednesday, August 23, during an event that the Chinese embassy in Rwanda organised to bid farewell to the 2023 cohort of Rwandan students bound for Chinese universities, Ambassador Wang Xuekun of China, said:

"This year, the Chinese Government provided 80 scholarships to Rwandan students, the highest number in recent years. Among them, 75 are pursuing master degrees, 2 are pursuing doctorate degrees and 3 are for bachelor’s degrees.”

The students will be majoring in courses in the fields of science, technology, economics and so on.

"Rwanda attaches great importance to education and the development of human resources, and this is playing a key role in the transformation of the whole country,” Wang told the students as he encouraged them to make good use of the study opportunity.

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"I encourage you to aim high, and pursue academic excellence. The progress of our society lies upon man’s tireless effort to explore the unknown. China is one of the countries that has the best talents, facilities and chances for education. Its higher education ranking in the world is going up and up. This provides you a good platform. As long as you work hard, future will reward,” he noted.

The Director General of the Higher Education Council, Rose Mukankomeje, urged the students that are going for education in China to study hard and strive to come back with knowledge.

"Some people are getting papers but when you go in details, there is nothing. If we send you, we want you to come back when there is value added to you,” she said.

"Don’t go and spend your time in night clubs instead of sitting in libraries reading and learning,” she added.

She also tipped them on the changing world and how they need to learn more about innovation and technology which drive progress.

"The Chinese scholarship program equips Rwandan students with tools they need to contribute meaningfully and make a transformative impact to our country’s development story,” she said.

Emmanuel Kamanzi, a member of the China-Rwanda Alumni organisation, an initiative of Rwandans who attended studies in China, shared some of the things that students need to focus on when they go to the Asian country.

He noted that there are many things to learn in China, in the classroom and out of it, as he called upon the students to try to pick maximum good lessons to bring home in fields like technology, culture, and language.