Carnegie Mellon to open new campus in 2015

A permanent home for Carnegie Mellon University-Rwanda (CMU-R) will be unveiled in 2015, according to the Minister of Education, DrVincent Biruta. The $13 million campus to be funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), is set to be constructed at the Kigali Special Economic Zone in Nyandungu Sector, Kicukiro District.“The construction works have not started as yet but the campus will be inaugurated in 2015 when all construction works will have been completed,” Biruta told The New Times yesterday.According to CMU-R officials, the project is estimated to take two to three years.The university is currently operating from the Telecom House in Kacyiru. Last year, AfDB signed a $13 million loan agreement with the government to construct and equip the centre of excellence.CMU-R began offering short courses in February this year with the inaugural Masters Degree programme slated to be rolled out in August. The institution aims to enrol approximately 40 incoming students in the initial class in August 2012, which is set to grow to approximately 150 incoming students by 2017.Rwanda will also award 50 percent scholarships as tuition fees for citizens of the East African Community (EAC) member states. The annual tuition fee is US$ 38,900 and scholarships are available for both the Master’s programme and professional development courses.The Director of Business Strategy and Operations at CMU-R, Crystal Rugege Ntore, said: “Once we have our permanent facility, we will have some residential housing available for our students. In the interim, we are operating out of Telecom House which does not have any capacity for accommodation.”“We are facilitating our students by identifying recommended housing options as well as general information about activities around the CMU-R facility.”She said they have received several applications for the Master’s programme with applicants primarily from Rwanda and the EAC.“We have not made admission decisions yet, but we will release our enrolment numbers once we have completed the admission process,” Rugege said.CMU is the first top ranked U.S. research institution to offer graduate degrees in Africa with an in-country presence and resident facility.

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Carnegie Mellon to open new campus in 2015