Four institutions of higher learning were recently accredited by the government, giving them a green light to go ahead and confer degrees.The go-ahead was given last week by the cabinet meeting.

The accredited universities include; Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Education of Kibungo (INATEK), Institut Catholique de Kabgayi (ICK), Institut Polytechnique de Byumba (IPB) and Institut d’Enseignement Superieur de Ruhengeri (INES).

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, the Minister of Education, Dr. Charles Murigande said he has glad the number of universities in the country was steadily increasing.

There are currently 26 universities and higher institutions of learning, 10 of which are private.

"It is good that the number has increased in the last few years, but the problem is that the capacity of tutors as compared to the number of students enrolling in these universities is still low and wanting,” the minister said.

He attributed the small number of experienced lecturers to the fact that many of them prefer working as visiting lecturers, hence giving them little time to do research and publications which is a prerequisite in the development of any university teacher.

Murigande, however, said that the issue was being scrutinized and that measures would be put in place to ensure that the movement of these lecturers to several institutions is minimized.

Two institutes of higher learning - Kigali Institute of Management (KIM) and the Rwanda Tourism University College (RTUC) are yet to get accreditation.

A source at KIM who preferred anonymity expressed concern over the period it has taken the institution to get accreditation.

"I really don’t know where the problem is. It has taken our institution a very long time to be accredited, which is worrying us because we are remaining with little time to finish our studies,” a student at the institute said.

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