NYARUGENGE - The rapid increase of universities in the East African Community (EAC) is a challenge because many are not providing the relevant kind of training for students in the region, the Secretary General of the EAC, Ambassador Juma Mwapachu has said.

This was during the 17th Executive Committee Meeting of the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) which took place on the 23rd June 2008 at Gorilla Hotel in Kigali.

The meeting brought together permanent secretaries from the East African Governments, the deputy chairpersons of the IUCEA Governing board, and other officials from the local ministries.

"The biggest challenge we have before us is whether our universities are having the capacity to impart the quality of training to the young East African generation to respond to the demands of our population,” Mwapachu noted.

He went on to say that this is the result of the many institutions that were once Polytechnics and technical institutes which have turned into universities overnight without proper accreditation.

"The criteria used for basic accreditation is weak and these institutions are turning into universities without proper capacity for producing competent university graduates,” Mwapachu added.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Daphrose Gahakwa who officially opened the executive committee meeting, said it was a great opportunity for Rwanda as it integrates into the East African community and that the country is committed to working together with IUCEA in achieving their goals.

"This is the first ever meeting to be attended by a representative from Rwanda and we look forward to working together to boost the level of higher education in the country,” Gahakwa said.

She added that Rwanda needs to boost both quality and quantity of education in order to help develop the country. "With a population of 10 million people, we need more than a million quality graduates in Rwanda to propel our country in the development process.

So when such committees like IUCEA meet to talk about quality education, we see this as a great opportunity for Rwanda,” Gahakwa added.   

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