INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER learning have been urged to provide quality education capable of enabling graduates create their own jobs.The call was made yesterday in Musanze District by Dr Vincent Biruta, the minister for education, while addressing staff at Rwanda Association of Private Institutions of Higher Learning (ARPES) i.Dr Biruta said to promote entrepreneurship, there is a need to focus on small- and medium-scale enterprises that create jobs.“We should aim at training the youth to meet national and regional labour market needs,” Dr Biruta said. “The important thing should not be degree and diplomas given out to students, but the quality of students that are coming from our institutions. We need to keep in mind that employability is necessary to give value to the degrees we are awarding to the graduates.”He told heads of private higher learning institutions that nothing should compromise quality.“Much as we want as many students to access higher education, it should not compromise the quality of education. Let’s not push numbers only and forget quality,” he said.The minister said the knowledge imparted in the students should be complemented by critical thinking and the analytical abilities that will enable them to use the acquired knowledge for self-development and for development of the country.Fr Dr Deogratias Niyibizi, the rector of Ruhengeri Institute of Higher Education (INES), said the meeting was organised to exchange ideas and research done by peers on how to boost education quality.“We met to discuss the way forward and to evaluate ourselves so we keep improving the quality of education we offer our students,” he said.
