Carnegie Mellon University-Africa (CMU-Africa) new facility is complete and ready for relocation, administration has announced.
The Rwf9bn facility to be launched this week is part of Kigali Innovation City located in Masoro-Munini, Gasabo District at the outskirts of Kigali City.
"Previously located at Telecom House, Kacyiru in Gasabo district, the institutions new home is a 6000-square metre facility and can accommodate up to 300 students.” Read part of a statement from the US-based university.
The statement also went on to point out that "the new location will feature as many labs as its previous location, more specialised and inclusive facilities and modern technology to enable distance education and teleconferencing, connecting CMU-Africa to world-renowned researchers and a vibrant student body across multiple locations”
Besides, the new campus has an outdoor amphitheatre to facilitate the diverse professional activities, such as hosting graduation and social events like movie nights, parent meetings among others.
Students at the modern campus will benefit from the strategic location of the facility, which is part of the innovation city, a vast area that hosts the country’s largest industries.
The campus, whose construction has lasted slightly over three years and was funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
"We tried to minimise costs but at the same time ensuring the maximum quality of the facility. But looking at the value of this campus, it is important to mention that it is worth the investment made,” Felix Siboniyo head of Single Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) at Rwanda Development Board (RDB) earlier told The New Times.
He also highlighted that 75 percent of the raw materials including cement and granite used for tiling are Made-in Rwanda products.
The new CMU-Africa campus is part of the 15-hectare land designated by the government as the Kigali Innovation City.
The country intends to attract more than 10 centres of excellence through its Kigali Innovation City (KIC) project, which recently got a boost following Rwanda’s partnership with Africa50 a special-purpose vehicle for infrastructure development in Africa.
At the moment, African Leadership University (ALU), Africa Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), University of Rwanda’s Biotechnology Centre and International Centre for Theoretical Physics are working to establish their permanent campuses in the country.
The goal of the city is to promote and drive the country’s economic growth through digital transformation.
CMU Africa currently provides two master’s programmes at a globally competitive level, something that the Government highly values for the future of Rwanda’s economic growth.
The students are from Rwanda and different African countries.
The university which offers Masters of Science in Information Technology and Masters of Electrical and Computer Engineering has so far graduated about 349 students since 2014 when it graduated the first class.
It was established in 2011 and is the only U.S. research university offering its Master’s degrees with a full-time faculty, staff and operations in Africa.
It was born out of a partnership between CMU and the Government of Rwanda to address the shortage of quality engineering talent required to accelerate development in Africa.