The Rwanda Education Board (REB) and the National Capacity Building Secretariat, on Tuesday, joined the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in sending off the first six Rwandan students to Korea for post graduate studies in various disciplines.

This is the first batch of 40 beneficiaries of a Masters scholarship programme sponsored by KOICA.

"We sincerely appreciate the Korean government for partnering with Rwanda in improving the capacity of our people,” said Janvier Ismael Gasana, the director-general of REB, at the send-off ceremony in Kigali.

The students left the country yesterday.

Gasana added that such an initiative is vital for Rwanda’s development goals. 

However, he urged KOICA to expand and align their scholarship programme to Rwanda’s most critical areas such as engineering, agriculture, and information and communication technology.

Gasana’s comments were echoed by Antonia Mutoro, the executive secretary of the National Capacity Building Secretariat, who said skills necessary to drive the country to achieve the Vision 2020 goals are badly needed.

KOICA is the official foreign deveagency of the Korean government.

At least 60 Rwandans have benefited from KOICA Masters scholarship programme since 2008, while 345 have studied various short courses under the same initiative.