As part of efforts to improve the quality of research work, the University of Rwanda has summoned all Masters degree holders among its academic staff to apply for PhD studies within two years.

The University Chancellor, Prof Philip Cotton, made the call during a seminar on research system building organised in partnership with the Swedish Cooperation Agency at the University of Rwanda Headquarters in Gikondo yesterday.

Cotton said a lot of research has been going on with poor coordination mechanisms but improving the quality of staff will improve on the research skills.

"We want to improve the skills that people already have and not dilute their efforts as they exist. It is important that we bring more people to engage into vital research themes,” Cotton said.

He said the university is also working on ensuring that themes generated would contribute to the development of the nation by addressing local problems.

"The starting point of research should come from people who live in Rwanda. For instance, if we have a theme around sustainable agriculture, the university should be in position to engage relevant ministries and people to make that better,” Cotton said.

Currently, University of Rwanda has 1,601 academic staff. Of these, 27 per cent hold Bachelor’s degrees, 18 per cent have PhDs while Master’s degree holders make up the biggest proportion with 52 per cent.

Prof. George Njoroge, the acting deputy vice-chancellor in charge of research, said that despite the challenges of gender imbalance with the staff higher qualifications for teaching staff is not an exception.

"Anyone with a Master’s degree should be registered for a PHD by next year. Teaching is equally important and the university has to maintain its standards by employing quality staff,” said Njoroge.

He said the university is working toward improving the quality of publications and that senior lecturers will be required to publish a given number annually.

"We have a target to have a professor publish at least three papers a year and, by 2025, our publishing staff should be beyond 50 per cent,” he added.

Research funding

Dr Marie Christine Gasinzigwa, the director of science, technology and research at the Ministry of Education, said that although researchers usually complain of limited funds, yet poor planning affects the progress of their work.

"With proper planning good research can be conducted using limited resources. It is mentality and for someone with a good proposal funding is easy to get. This is the capacity building we are talking about,” said Gasinzigwa, who also urged local researchers to engage with other researchers from different countries to learn best practice.

"People come from different countries, if you need to leapfrog, you need to see where others have reached and build on that. That is our target,” she added.

Although Government is working on a special research fund through the National Commission of Science and Technology, part of research funding comes from donor agencies. Over the past five years the Swedish International Cooperation Agency (SIDA) has injected over $40 million into research in the country.

Anna Marie Ottorp, the head of research cooperation at SIDA, lauded Rwanda’s efforts in building capacity of its researchers.

"Rwanda has clear vision and plans and, while we support building research capacity, we very much want to see which areas need more emphasis. Many people have been trained in the country and this shows the ownership of higher education in Rwanda,” she said.

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