Oklahoma University to open school in Kigali

The president of Oklahoma Christian University (OCU), Dr Mike O’Neal, has announced plans to set up a state-of-the-art boarding secondary school in Rwanda that will have the capacity of 2,000 students.

Friday, March 16, 2012
President Kagame and the First Lady with a delegation from Oklahoma Christian University yesterday. The New Times / Village Urugwiro.

The president of Oklahoma Christian University (OCU), Dr Mike O’Neal, has announced plans to set up a state-of-the-art boarding secondary school in Rwanda that will have the capacity of 2,000 students.He said this yesterday after he and a delegation from the university met President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro.Currently, there are over 60 Rwandan students studying at the US varsity. Most are under the Presidential Scholarship Programme championed by President Kagame. "We have brought a group from Atlanta that desires to build a high standard boarding school here. We are partnering with the Government of Rwanda to have that happen. Next year we will have a groundbreaking for a high school of excellence,” said O’Neal.He added that the Rwandan students are among the finest and that it had been one of the motivations for them to expand educational services. "One of the things we are looking at is to have our MBA Programme offered here in Rwanda and even in future to have perhaps other education programmes here,” he said. O’Neal praised the relations between Rwanda and the University saying that that is why he is seeking to contribute to the country’s vision through capacity building. According to the Minister of Education, Dr Vincent Biruta, Rwanda is looking at all possible avenues of facilitating OCU increase its engagement with Rwanda. "Part of the plans we are looking at include a partnership between OCU and some local universities to offer long distance learning programs,” he said.The institution to be named Central African School of Excellence, will be located in Kicukiro District, according to the Ministry of Education."Land has already been identified and if it all goes according to plan, the entire preparatory activities should take two years,” said Sharon Haba, the PS Ministry of Education.