Rwandan education system needs a turnaround

Editor,This is with reference to Steven Mugisha’s article, “If One University is the solution, what are the problems?”, published in The New Times edition of August 20.One of the credible initiatives the Rwandan government has done is to establish sound institutions in the case of higher education, I mean the National Council of Higher Education. The institution’s mandate is to monitor, ensure quality and assure the delivery of higher education in Rwanda.But I am amazed all these problems are happening in their midst and how they have not been able to come up with solutions.In the first place, has the institution of the University of Rwanda been well elaborated and explained to all the stakeholders? What strategy has been improvised to implement this policy?I am well aware there are cost effective and value for money justifications for the creation of the University of Rwanda. The country cannot afford any more massive transactional costs related to running parallel courses. But the process needs to be well elaborated to all stakeholders.This prompts me into asking questions. I remember there was a skills audit study conducted in 2010, what were its findings in terms of the skills required in the Rwandan economy? For me it seems the country needs an in-depth strategy for delivering the human resources required to achieve this.From this kind of findings, we will be able to determine what skills do lecturers in the UoR need to have to be able to transform the future generation into a skilled workforce capable of driving Rwanda into the knowledge economy.Kimenyi, Kenya

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Rwandan education system needs a turnaround