University of Rwanda to invest in research to influence govt policies

Researchers from University of Rwanda have started carrying out studies in various domains they believe will help the government improve policy implementation. The university officials said this on Tuesday in a two-day workshop in Musanze to assess the progress by researchers. Prof. Verdiana Grace Masanja, the university’s director for research and post-graduate studies, said the workshop aims at sharing the progress of research being carried out. Masanja said the research will mainly focus on various domains in sectors such as agriculture, health, general sciences, humanities, entrepreneurship, economics, among others, and its findings will have impact on various government policies. Forty-three researchers have received grants from the university in the past two years with the support of Swedish International Development Agency. “One of our primary jobs is to generate new knowledge; a university that does not generate new knowledge is not worth the name. In developing countries, it is research which matters, even the so-called emerging countries, are where they are now because of investing heavily in research,” said Masanja She added that the research findings will be published in international science journals. A notable recent initiative is the approval of the University of Rwanda’s Academic Workload Framework. The framework allocates time for research based on the staff academic level, and it ranges from 25 per cent to 50 per cent from Associate and full professors to dean of schools, according to the officials. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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University of Rwanda to invest in research to influence govt policies