HUYE - The National University of Rwanda (NUR) has unveiled five new postgraduate programmes to be run in Kigali and the University main campus in Huye, Southern Province.

This brings the number to 19 postgraduate programmes currently offered at the country’s oldest and biggest public university.

The new programmes introduced include; M.Sc in Field Epidemiology, Laboratory and Management Training Programme, M.Sc in Biodiversity and conservation, M.A in Development Studies, M.Sc Business Management and M.Sc Applied Mathematics.

Dr Jose Mathai, the Director of Postgraduate Studies, in an interview with The New Times yesterday, said that the university has revalidated all its programmes in line with the requirements of the National Higher Council of Education.

He explained that by offering various postgraduate programmes in Kigali, the university seeks to meet the demands of many potential students.

"We have many people working in Kigali who would want to further their education but cannot because of limited opportunities. As a national university we want to fill this void by providing quality and affordable postgraduate programmes that meet the development needs of the country,” Mathai said. 

The programmes, that are expected to start in August this year, will be run on day and evening basis at St Paul in Kigali and at the university main campus.

"We are working on more postgraduate programmes that will be carefully designed to meet the demand on the market. We are putting great emphasis on quality so as to remain competitive in the region,” he added.

Dr Mathai said that negotiations are ongoing to involve the private sector to provide some form of education loans to students.

"We are looking into the possibility of availing partial scholarships mainly in science fields, we also want to negotiate with banks to offer education loans which students can repay after completion,” he added.

The University is also exploring new modes of delivery, especially in offering executive programmes.

These include the use of Video Conferencing technology that is already in use at the University by 20 students, who, through partnership with Rwanda Convention Association, are undergoing a seven week e-Entrepreneurship course programme.

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