The University of Kigali has introduced post-graduate studies in various disciplines.

The announcement was made, yesterday, by the senior management of the institution at a media briefing in Kacyiru.

The varsity will begin offering 13 masters programmes this month, after receiving accreditation from the government early this year. 

The postgraduate programmes being offered by the institution include Masters in; Executive MBA, public policy, arts in public administration, Science in procurement, science in IT, commerce, Finance, Human resource management, entrepreneurship, Economics,  public policy and management and Business administration. 

VIDEO: Will University of Kigali make a difference for the quality of education? Source: The New Times/YouTube.

Beyond offering post-graduate programmes, the institution also launched a centre for economic governance and leadership which will offer short courses for senior executives in private and public sectors in areas such as public finance management.

According to the varsity’s deputy vice chancellor of academics, Dr Kerosi Bosire, some of the post-graduate courses will be offered in collaboration with an internationally recognised institution, Strathmore University, based in Kenya.

"We will work in partnership with international institutions and universities to offer industry-focused courses. It is for such reasons that we signed a memorandum of understanding with Strathmore University and are working on similar partnerships in the future,” Bosire told journalists.

He said the programmes had been customised to ensure that graduates would be relevant to the Vision 2020 and national development goals and in line with market demands.

Noting that there were issues of quality of graduates in the country, Bosire said the institution was complying with the national quality framework and that their decisions were informed by research.

The Chairperson of Board of Promoters of the University, Prof Manasseh Nshuti, said having a local institution offering the post graduate programmes would save students of the high costs incurred in obtaining similar qualifications in neigbouring countries.

Citing the example of about $60 million spent in 2008 by Rwandans in neighbouring country’s varsities for undergraduate and post-graduate degrees, Nshuti said a lot of resources were being spent abroad while the same qualifications could be made available in Rwanda.

Noting the role of local human resource development in developed economies like Singapore and Korea, he said the programmes were designed with the current labour market needs in mind.

Philbert Afrika, the chair of the Board of Directors, said the decision to offer the short term courses at the centre for economic governance and leadership was to keep executives abreast of the latest developments in their line of work as well as to offer specific insights to emerging issues.

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