In a bid to meet current needs of the labour market, the Kigali Independent University (ULK) has ventured into reforms that will see new departments getting integrated into the University’s curriculum.

This was revealed yesterday by the Rector of ULK, Prof. Alphonse Ngagi, in an exclusive interview with The New Times.

According to Ngagi, the new departments in the faculties of Economic Sciences and Management and Social Sciences will undergo some reforms to be able to accommodate the new departments.

"We have been having, two departments in the faculty of Economic Sciences and Management, namely Economics and Management, but due to the demands on the job market, we are introducing two more departments of Accounting and Finance,” said Ngagi.

He added that the move will see the faculty changed to be called the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies with departments of Economics, Accounting and Finance.

"The Management department has been so wide and yet the labour demands in the country want specialization. This is why we have decided to add in these other departments to ensure quality of our students in this particular faculty,” he said.

Another Faculty which will undergo changes, according the Rector, is the Faculty of Social Sciences that will change into the Faculty of Development Studies.

Two departments have also been added in this faculty; Sociology of Development and Governance and International Relations.

The department of Governance and International Relations will be instrumental in training cadres of good governance and will also help in promoting scientific research in the domain.

Ngagi added that the existence of the department of Sociology of Development was motivated by the need for specialists who understand social, cultural and development challenges that governments and NGO’s experience in development.

The new courses are expected to be aligned to the university’s curriculum of the 2011 academic year.

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