The University of Kibungo (UNIK) in Ngoma District last week held a graduation ceremony where over 1910 graduated from the faculties of education, economics and business studies and faculty of agriculture and rural development.

This 7th graduation ceremony for the institution was held at Cyasemakamba Stadium in Ngoma District, where graduands were urged to seek opportunities even beyond the Rwandan labour market.

The Governor, Eastern Province, Odette Uwamariya gave special recognition to the female graduates, who outnumbered their male counterparts.

She challenged the graduates to use the acquired knowledge to address the needs of society saying that no one will come from outside to address them.

"We need educated people whose education meets the needs of society. We need graduates who can make an impact and I have no doubt you will do this,” she said.

She gave an example of the prolonged drought that characterized the region in the past few months, saying that government needs people who can make research especially on challenges that face communities.

"For example, go and find out why there is no rain, why it rains dispersedly, and how best to mitigate the effects of drought,” she said.

The vice chancellor of the university Prof. Silas Lwakabamba said that UNIK aims at building more structures to accommodate more students, add more programmes including masters programmes and distance learning to make it a competitive university.

"We intend to build infrastructure to help us contribute to the development of the education sector, which is one of the pillars of national development,” said Lwakabamba.

A guest speaker Steve Noah, an American entrepreneur, hailed the government for upholding the dignity of the people of Rwanda.

In his speech quoting President Kagame’s address to William Penny University in 2012, Noah advised the graduands to always remember "Agaciro, the very essence of humanness”.

UNIK started as an institute in 2003 called Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Education of Kibungo (INATEK). In March this year, it changed to the University of Kibungo (UNIK).

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