The University of Rwanda (UR) is set to welcome more international students from different countries as it seeks to bolster its academic and cultural environment.
Currently, international students account for just two per cent of the university’s student population, and the goal is to receive as many as 10 per cent, said Nosa O. Egiebor, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of academic affairs and research.
And the university now is partly banking on the just signed agreement with Government of Gabon Scholarship Agency to help drive its ambition of increasing its international student population.
Signed on October 11, the agreement allows students from Gabon who fulfil admission criteria to undertake their undergraduate studies at UR.
UR has already received the first cohort of 31 students from Gabon comprised of 13 females and 18 males, who are going to start their scholar journey in different disciplines.
The students were accompanied by the delegation from Gabon led by Gilles Evrard Mayagui Manamy, Technical Advisor in charge of academic affairs in Gabon Scholarship Agency and Serge Ghislain Okogo, Advisor to the President of Gabon.
Manamy said the step was motivated by the quality of education in Rwanda, "it has learned to make its education system a machine that links adequacy, training and jobs.”
This he said comes out of the bilateral relations between both countries and that they wish to build a human capital with quality training, reason for the need to diversify experiences from different countries.
Egiebor said that the school provides a favourable academic environment for all students and it offers a lot of disciplines that are not available elsewhere in order.
Emmanuelle Ivari Singuina, a student from Gabon who is going to undertake a course in Human Resources at UR said she is upbeat about studying in Rwanda.
"I am excited about the experience I am going to receive from here not only on a personal and social level but also professionally,” she said.
The development adds to the recent MoU signed between UR and Kent State University of United States in August, which will see an exchange of students and the introduction of new courses such as Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering.