Why UR must think differently

Editor, As Rwanda has been consolidating and restructuring its higher education system, it has become increasingly clear that its current graduates are inadequately prepared to meet the needs of society and the growing economy. To meet the core function of educating its citizens, Rwanda needs to creatively leverage its internal and global resources differently. There are a number of clear and critical steps that need implementation: 1) The University of Rwanda (UR) needs to shift its graduating requirements to a “Competency-Based” programme. Time-in-class and credits-for-courses are inadequate measures. In the United States, for example, entire universities and other programmes are shifting to competences with the approval of the government. 2) UR needs to commit significant funds for the development of a department of instructional technology and learning skills. This needs to be designed first for the UR faculty. 3) UR needs to shift faculty time and rewards from research to teaching. This is critical if the quality of the graduates is to be raised. One dean at a major research university in the United States has echoed the thinking of others when he indicated that the reward structure would shift to favour quality teaching over research. 4) UR faculty time needs to be expanded to increase the amount of time devoted to student education and advising. Whether or not UR shifts to a competency-based programme, student needs require that university faculty be prepared to allow students to access knowledge at their own pace. This requires a significant commitment of the university to favour teaching to best prepare students for meaningful participation in society. 5) The areas of business, technology and related skills for economic growth need to be supported by collaboration with the private sector, which has consistently identified the weaknesses in the educational programme. 6) The most expensive area of education and research is in STM (science, technology, medicine). It is the latter area (medicine) which is critical and critically under resourced in both physical resources and faculty in the area of education. Health care is a core and a priority in Rwanda. This area alone points out the need to focus limited resources in providing the country with highly qualified and competent graduates working in the field. Classified as a developing country, Rwanda has been given unique, free, and low cost access to much of the world’s scholarly knowledge, provided that it is prepared to effectively use these resources. That takes a significant and orthogonal approach for the University of Rwanda and builds on the need to significantly invest in a way to address this opportunity. Until the faculty have this competency, UR will not be able to take full advantage of the international resources that are principally accessible only through the Internet. In order for UR to meet the needs of the country and its graduates, it needs to think significantly different from the traditional academic model. Dr. Tom Abeles, Rwanda

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Why UR must think differently