The Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) recently announced that starting January 2010, it will introduce five new Masters degree Programmes.

According to a related KIE communiqué, the five additions include a three-year Bachelor of Tourism Studies, in addition to two others – Master in Business Administration (Human Resource and Marketing) and Master of Arts and Tourism Management, both being two-year programmes.

"5 new programmes are starting by January 2010 in collaboration with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) through Tele-education mode under the Pan African E-Network project,” reads part of the KIE communiqué.

The two other new arrivals are diplomas – one in Child Care and Education and another in HIV and AIDS, all being one-year programmes.

IGNOU is one of the largest universities in the world.
Established in 1985, the university provides open and distance educational facilities to millions who are not able to access conventional educational systems.

The renowned Indian university presently serves over 1.5 million students with a large network of schools of study and branches in over 35 countries.

Initiated by the Indian government, the Pan-African e-network project which supports tele-education, telemedicine and other such projects in Africa is a joint initiative with the African Union that was launched three years ago.

The $1 billion project which India kicked off in September 2006 was aimed at developing Africa’s information and communication technologies by eventually connecting all African countries to a satellite and fibre-optic network.

ICT has been identified as a key growth area in India-Africa trade relations, and Ethiopia, South Africa, Ghana, and Mauritius were the initial beneficiaries.

Apart from the new arrivals, KIE currently boasts of an MBA in International Business, Masters in Finance and Control as well as the Post Graduate diploma in information technology.

The institution also offers a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and a Bachelor in Finance and Investment Analysis, which are all conducted in collaboration with Amity University Uttar Pradesh (AUUP), of India.

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