Public universities are set to enjoy more autonomy after a new law governing higher education was passed in December, last year, to ensure that institutions of higher learning depend less on government.

The new law will be significant following the merger of higher institutions of learning to form the University of Rwanda. It paves way for the university to rely less on the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour and Public Service to make decisions on managing its staff and to procure research works.

The new law will go a long way in facilitating universities in Rwanda to meet international practices and standards.

With the current global trend in university education, fast decision making and autonomy to respond quickly to needs of higher education is critical for any university to be competitive.

Like, the Vice­ Chancellor of the University of Rwanda, Prof. Phillip Cotton observed, it is important for the university to have autonomy so that it can be competitive in an academic environment.

However, universities have to look beyond government funding to be able to operate in a sustainable manner.

Universities in Rwanda should come up with innovative ways of raising funds. Rwandan public universities should copy American universities that are exemplary at raising funds. Cash-strapped universities in the UK and Asia have borrowed ideas from the U.S universities.

The universities should put in place investment policies to help them generate revenue internally. After its merger, University of Rwanda has a lot of resources it can harness if it comes up with a robust Investment Policy.

For a long time public universities solely relied on state funding but experience has showed that this model is not sustainable. State funding will never be enough to meet the challenges of 21st century university education.