Kigali to host global varsity summit

Kigali is set to host a high level summit of academic leaders organized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The three-day Africa Regional Higher Education Summit will start on Tuesday October 21 bringing together university leaders mainly from American institutions and their African counterparts. According to Prof. Silas Lwakabamba, the Rector of the National University of Rwanda, among the summit’s organizers, the meeting will be a follow up of a similar summit for global development held last April hosted by the US State Department. “The major aim of this summit is to strengthen Africa’s human and institutional capacity and innovations for global competitiveness and sustainable growth,” said Lwakabamba on phone over the weekend. He said that the summit will create a platform of exchange of knowledge and ideas to improve the quality of education on the African continent. “Over 200 people have confirmed attendance and among these are various stakeholders in higher learning education like the Aga Khan Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Microsoft,” he explained. Topics to be discussed at the summit include the development of Information Communication Technology (ICT), linking basic and higher education, food security, and economic growth. Other areas to be discussed will include innovation and expanding access; and expanding partnerships to strengthen Africa’s institutions of higher education. On what Rwandan universities and the general population will benefit from hosting the meeting, Lwakabamba said this summit will discuss innovations in coffee production and that coffee being a major cash crop in the country, Rwandans will benefit enormously. “This summit will also provide a chance to Rwandan institutions of higher learning to forge partnerships with the administrators of high profile universities who will be in attendance and this will help us improve the relevance of our universities,” he said. The US Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, according to agencies, confirmed that USAID Administrator and US Director of Foreign Assistance Henrietta H. Fore will be among the key speakers at the Summit. Ends