In 2003, you will
celebrate the 40th anniversary of the NUR. What
have been the major achievements of the university
over the past 40 years and especially the past 8
years, following the 1994 war?
This university was created on the 3rd of November
1963, so it is close to 40 years. We started with
63 students and today we are 5,922. Between 1963
and 1994 there were roughly 3,000 students and after
8 years we have doubled the intake.
In the first 30 years, the university had developed
with traditional subjects like basic sciences and
humanities. After 1994 we had to rethink about a
number of things, the vision, the mission and the
strategies according to the needs.
As for the vision, we clearly came up with a university
that would be instrumental in upgrading the technological
skills of the nation. We also came up with a university
that would clearly be focussing on the needs of
the society. This means that the University has
to play a role in the major challenges of the country
like poverty reduction and conflict management through
a multi disciplinary approach and of course other
traditional challenges for creating knowledge that's
needed. We also look at education of women because
they make up over 53% of our society and they have
been left behind. This is an agricultural country
and the women produce most of the food. They also
cater for child education and growth. So we thought
the university has to play a major role in that.
As for the mission, beyond the traditional mission
of the university, the University focused at the
providing the country with skilled manpower that
the country needed so badly after 1194 genocide.
Though research is expensive it is not a luxury
even for poor countries as some people have been
saying; we know that in the modern world there cannot
be development without research.
We embarked on a human resource development program
and today 30 % of our permanent staff are outside
the country on training for masters and PhDs. They
are in countries like South Africa, in Europe, the
US and Canada. We hope that in the next few years
we will have a critical mass of young PhDs who are
dynamic. This program started 4years ago and now
some of them are returning. Fortunately the brain
drain is not so much but of course we are aware
that this problem is there. Just to give you an
idea on what we want to do, in terms of poverty
reduction we want our lecturers, in their research
work, to work directly with rural areas and see
how they can create that linkage with researchers,
producers, NGOs and farmers associations to solve
problems in rural areas. One example is in the coffee
sector, through inter-university co-operation between
universities in the north, our university and other
research centres, students work together in the
field on how to improve small farmers coffee quality.
In the field, we suppose you also collaborate
with other research institutes.
We try to get involved with everybody in research
in all activities that can raise the income of the
people. We are trying to think about how best the
university can participate in exports for example.
Recently, a team composed of university researchers
and businessmen went for a tour of Europe to see
what can be sold especially in the agriculture sector.
They came back with very good suggestions and today
we tried to get business people together to work
with them. We tried to get a basic processing unit
and embark on a pilot project to export to the market
those export commodities that had been identified.
We just realised that there is a huge African and
African related Diaspora in Europe.
Today we are talking about agriculture, but definitely
we are also involved in other sectors like conflict
management to see what we can do as a university.
It is not easy to carry out research because you
need money; we have to compete for research funding
that is why we need to be updated on grant writing
and other potential donors.
Who are your main partners in terms of transfers
of technological know-how and equipment?
The main transformation in the university as far
as technology is concerned is Information, Communication
Technology. In 1998-1999 we had between 40 and 50
computers in the whole university. Today we have
a network and Internet and we are managing about
350 computers with servers for administration, libraries
and mail.
To make human resource development efficient, you
need access to information. Today some of the faculties
really have up to date information especially the
faculty of medicine. Most of the equipment was bought
through government grant, as the president is a
champion of IT.
For the know-how we work with foreign universities,
in the field of IT we have mainly worked with the
University of Midland in the US. We have also been
working with some universities in Belgium in the
field of Library computerisation. Otherwise we have
been working with private companies and some big
names like CISCO. We are the regional CISCO academy
in the country and we are setting up local academies.
So far we have initiated two, one in KIST and the
other in Rwandatel.
We have contacts with some companies like Lucent
Technologies; it is a company in the US that gave
us some research grants. Through that grant we are
involved in community multi-purpose centres, we
have one in a district about 15 Km from here and
we will put up another one in a primary school and
secondary school about 20Km form here. Through that
grant we have opened the first ever tele-centre
in the country. Through this applied research we
wanted to look at the feasibility of such a program
in Rwanda. Some of the places do not have electricity
and telephone lines; so we have to use solar energy
and wireless technology.
For traditional technological transfer, it is through
inter-university co-operation that we are able to
up-date our skills. We have co-operation with over
40 universities including European universities,
American universities and African universities. |
Do you work together
on the elaboration of your teaching programs?
After 1994, we had to move fast to more relevant
teaching programs like IT, which was a new department
that had to be opened, and we are having our first
graduates this year in BSc.
We had to create a number of new subjects like business
administration, Accounting, development studies,
banking and International economy, etc.
You mentioned that you are developing courses
like accounting, are you training in that direction
to implement revenue-generating activities like
KIST that provides consultancy services?
This is done but you have to be very careful to
balance the time your lecturers spend in the university
and the time they are outside. We have a big student
population and not enough lecturers; so you really
have to balance. In terms of revenue generation
you have to come up with new ways of generating
money because the government doesn't fund all programs.
We encourage consultancies but within acceptable
margins. Some of our departments offer services
that are paid for. For example, the department of
civil engineering tests building materials in the
laboratory. Sometimes we do studies for structure;
most of the new buildings in Kigali have been studied
in the department here.
Of course, our teachers would like to go more often
because they make a living through this but we have
to strike a balance between the need to look after
our students and the need to earn a better living.
The university is involved in income generation
but in a way that is not compromising to the quality
of the education.
Most of your students are meant to become the
main assets of Rwandan companies when they come
out of university. In this regards, what type of
relationship do you build with the private sector?
Our links with the private sector are not yet fully
institutionalised. All our students have industrial
training and most of the companies in Kigali take
our students for training.
The 2nd way we interact with the private sector
is through workshops. For example when it comes
to reforming the curriculum, we call future employers
and employees of the private sector to participate
in defining the needs. We did it last year for the
faculty of Agriculture, two years ago for the school
of journalism and communication and we have done
it for most faculties.
The 3rd strategy is partnership. We had very interesting
workshops a month ago between the IT companies in
Rwanda and the education institutions here at the
university. One of the strong recommendations was
the formalisation of the partnership. We are involved
in supplying manpower for IT companies in Rwanda.
The IT companies in Rwanda are few but I think there
are going to develop very fast. If you compare today
and a few years ago, you definitely see a big difference.
The privatisation and liberalisation of the telecommunication
will boost this industry.
So, the need for qualified human resources will
have to grow?
Yes, last evening I had a group of people from the
local business community asking me to help to see
how to promote the new IT Company they are putting
up. The university will play a role in terms of
maintenance of their equipment and solving a number
of their problems. We told them we are ready and
we will even assist with our recommendation to the
bank.
We are also in the process of reviewing our charter.
One thing that will change is the role of the private
sector and other stakeholders like women in the
university council.
Once again, in 2003 you will celebrate the 40th
anniversary of the university, I suppose you will
deliver a message to the students and the private
sector. What will your main message be?
My message will be a message of hope, despite the
fact that we have gone through hard times and we
are among the poorest countries. If there is will
and faith, in the next years, we shall become a
middle-income country. The university is a tool
that the people of Rwanda should use to move from
this agricultural country to a more knowledge-based
country.
In August we shall launch the university alumni
association, we shall look at what has been achieved
and which mistakes have been made in the last 40
years to avoid making them again and what should
be the new impetus to allow us to move to this new
era.
Could tell us a little about your professional
background?
Well, I have had my education here and abroad. In
1960 my family fled the country because of the turmoil
in Rwanda and we came back in 1964 and I continued
my secondary school education at Group Scolaire
de Butare. I then went on to the National University
of Rwanda. After two years, in 1973, I had to flee
again because of political reasons. I then spent
one year at the University of Burundi then went
on to the University of Dakar where I finished my
medical education.
I then moved to France where I completed my further
education and I became a general surgeon, then a
urological surgeon. In 1988, I came back to Africa;
I went to Uganda and worked with the medical school
there. I came back to Rwanda in 1994 and was assigned
the task of reopening the Kigali central Hospital
while I was teaching urology here at the university.
In 1998 I was appointed the rector of the university.
Of course I miss practising and I like teaching.
NB : Winne shall not be responsible for
unedited transcriptions |
