Quantity and quality of relevant research for poverty reduction and social economic development is on the rise after the partnership between University of Rwanda and Swedish universities to increase the number of staff with PhD and master's degrees, Etienne Ruvebana, the senior research coordinator for UR-Sweden Programme at University of Rwanda has said.

He was speaking on April 24, 2024, during the 2024 Annual Dialogue Meeting which assessed UR-Sweden Programme implementation for the period from July 2023 to June 2024 and the work plan for the period from 2024 to 2025.

"We see a huge amount of very good research being done in the country. This means research that can have a high impact on the socio-economic transformation but also of our respective universities and the researchers themselves. We see the potential of growing academically and in other spheres of life and continuation of the contribution to transforming the country even more,” he said.

During the programme implementation from 2023 to 2024, 38 PhD students were supported to travel to Sweden and stay for their studies.

They were also supported in the sandwich mode to conduct field work in Rwanda.

A sandwich degree, or sandwich course, is an academic degree or higher education course involving practical work experience in addition to academic studies.

It also facilitated supervisors of PhD Students on both sides of Rwanda and Sweden.

The partnership supported nine post-doctoral fellows to do their fieldwork and to travel to Sweden for three months.

A postdoctoral fellowship is a training-focused position available to people who have earned a doctorate.

Under the programme in 2023/24, at least 26 PhD students were registered at UR and supported for fieldwork and conference attendance.

The programme registered and supported 29 students in the Master of Science degree programme in health informatics.

"Master of Science degree programmes in health informatics have been given priority mainly due to the fact that it is a new and useful area that needs expertise that is highly needed at the University and in Rwanda as a country,” Ruvebana said.

The Master of Science degree programme also covered biotechnology, biomedical courses among others.

He said the quantity and quality of relevant research which is increasing is in different fields.

"For instance some researchers worked on undernutrition in Northern province, irrigation and controlled drainage, bioenergy, peace studies, and others. There is a lot that is being done building upon the existing partnership. We see interest among other Swedish institutions that are not yet part. We see a huge amount of capacity among our people from both sides.”

Ruvebana said the programme raised the number of PhD graduates under the UR-SE Programme to 94.

"They were both facilitated to repatriate and are now serving UR. We see potentials from these partnerships from many aspects. We see the desire to develop courses with novel and added value in poverty reduction such as farming, food consumption and health, gender, rural entrepreneurship, courses on women in science and leadership,” he said.

He said UR now has the potential to sustain post-graduate programmes in different areas.

"All we need is to increase the ownership among different academic units and other stakeholders and close monitoring of students’ journeys. We see the potential to ensure that we are training to develop the capacity that will be useful for UR and Rwanda,” Ruvebana said.

Martina Fors Mohlin, the Head of Development Cooperation and Deputy Head of Mission at the Swedish Embassy in Rwanda emphasised the significance of the UR-Sweden Programme highlighting its alignment with Rwandan needs in both government and private sector.

"The programme is building the capacity at a very high level which has then helped the country within government institutions, but also the private sector,” she said.

She stressed the importance of bridging the connection between research, policy and decision-making processes.

"The governments are always looking for evidence-based and right policies, revised policies or strategies. They need research, they need University research. I think the link between research and policy is extremely important.”

She added: "The research should be independent but also look at what the country needs, what the government needs, fighting stunting being one example, for example, is a problem in Rwanda. I was very pleased to hear that one of the researchers has worked on it. We hope that the findings of that research goes into policy making so that the government does something to address it.”