Universities align programmes with market needs

Rwandan universities and higher learning institutions are working to align their programmes with the government’s emphasis on producing students with skills to drive national economic growth.

At a meeting with academics and the management of the University of Rwanda earlier this month, Education Minister Dr Eugène Mutimura said the current drive towards the fourth industrial revolution and economic growth of the country would depend heavily on training people with competent skills sets.

He said it was important that universities worked with the ministry to achieve programmes that produced the right skills sets – those with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) which are regarded as the main drivers of the industrial revolution and economic growth.

Government support

“As the government, we are committed and are going to do everything possible to work with you, to review the current programmes in STEM so that they are up to standard,” he said.

“We want to provide infrastructure so that our teaching delivery is optimised, and provide teaching and learning materials so that at the end of the day we see our graduates with the right skills and competencies because we believe that is the way they will drive our economic development,” he added.

A tracer survey conducted by the Ministry of Education and released in May last year revealed that graduates lack professional experience, entrepreneurial and business skills. The employment rate for graduates of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programmes was 50% while the general employment rate for university graduates (mainstream) was 63.4%, according to the same report.

The underemployment figure for TVET graduates was 39.5%, while for higher learning institutions it was reported to be 18.5%.

University of Rwanda

Philip Cotton, the vice-chancellor of the University of Rwanda, said the institution had adopted different ways of teaching and working with external stakeholders to match programmes with labour market needs in accordance with the government’s vision.

“We tend to look at education as a series of stages and so what we have been doing is looking at the development of our courses, the delivery of our courses, the assessment of our courses, and the evaluation by students and external stakeholders,” he told University World News.

He said the university carries out regular research to understand the needs of learners using data analytics and learner analytics, and it uses the proper methodology to ensure that they develop courses in a way that is relevant to local, national and international needs.

The University of Rwanda, the country’s largest university and its only public institution, anticipates that enrolment in STEM courses will rise from the current 48% to 90% in the next 10 years.

Cotton said the university has committed itself to helping the country achieve its sustainable development goals by developing a broader set of programmes for careers such as engineering, banking and economics, among others. “I think the university has certain undertakings and commitments it makes to the community that it serves; our commitment is to be part of the drive for economic growth and economic stability,” he added.

He said supervised internships were seen as critical to giving students additional hands-on experience and to helping them understand the working environment.

Institute of Applied Sciences

Other institutions in the country have also been adapting to fit in with the government’s programme. According to Fr Dr Fabien Hagenimana, vice-chancellor of the Institute of Applied Sciences or INES-Ruhengeri, the university has, since it opened in 2003, oriented its programmes towards applied sciences with 85% of its students currently enrolled in STEM courses.

Under the slogan “Shift from Paper to People”, Hagenimana says the university will play its role in producing relevant graduates with the required skills set for economic growth.

He said the university values “interaction with the public and private sector over the choice of programmes and methodology”.

“The concept (Paper to People) stands for a practical university or a university that balances practice and theory with the aim of professionalising the graduates and makes them ready to respond to community developmental needs,” he said.