The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Claver Gatete and the World Bank Country Manager Yasser El-Gamal Friday signed an International Development Association (IDA) credit agreement of $20 million (approximately Frw15.3 bn) to support centers of excellence in institutions of higher education

This, according to a statement, is aimed at strengthening capacity in these institutions in order for them to deliver quality post-graduate education and build collaborative research capacity regionally and internationally.

"This project will promote regional specialization among participating universities within areas that address particular common development challenges, and strengthen the capacities of these universities to deliver high quality training and applied research,” said Minister Gatete

The  credit line is part of a $140 million IDA  loan approved by the WB board of Directors on June 9, for the Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence Project(ACE II) into which seven other countries participate.

These include Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The project will strengthen 24 competitively-selected ACEs in five clusters of regional priorities including Industry, Agriculture, Health, Education and Applied Statistics.

With the grant, four Centers of Excellence will be set up in the University of Rwanda’s three main colleges.

The college of Business and Economics with host the African Center of Excellence for Data Sciences, while the College of Education will be home to the African Center of Excellence for Innovative Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science.