KIGALI - An association of former students of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) was Tuesday launched in Rwanda by the Minister of Education, Dr. Charles Murigande.

Speaking during the ceremony, Murigande, thanked VIT owner, Dr. Viswanathan for his contribution to the development of Rwanda’s human resources by opening the doors of the university to Rwandan students.

The institute has seen over 100 Rwanda students go through it in the fields of IT and Business Management. VIT has been in partnership with the government since 2002.
Murigande called on the alumni to work hard to achieve their goals. 

"You should be very hard working, work with integrity and love. You must be able to share knowledge and opportunities and always show care, not only to the members of the association, but also to other people,” he counselled.

Viswanathan commended the government for striving to transform the country into a knowledge-based society.

"With all these plans the government has set out to accomplish, countries will soon be sending their students to come and study in Rwanda in a few years,” he said.

On behalf of the former students, Dr. Papias Musafiri, who is currently the Vice Rector in charge of Academics at SFB said they were going to do their best in paying back to their country and thanked the government for enabling them further their studies.

The ceremony which took place at the School of Finance and Banking (SFB) saw Rwanda become the first country to create the Vellore Institute of Technology Alumni Association (VITAA) in Africa.

VITAA has chapters in the Americas, Europe, Australia and all over Asia in which thousands of former students have maintained links between them and the university.

Aimable Manzi was entrusted to head the VITAA Rwanda chapter by his colleagues, deputized by Jean Nepomscene Sebahire, while Sylvester Rwabizi was elected treasurer.

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