African Leadership University comes to Rwanda

African Leadership University (ALU), a private learning institution will launch in Rwanda September 2016, bringing the number of universities in the country to 33. Students in ALU will have similar courses with those in Cambridge of Massachusetts in United States.It will start with the school of business.

The administrators of the university, during the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa last week, said that they will bring experts from universities across the world, reducing the need to travel outside the country for academic purposes.

Fred Swaniker, a Ghanaian who founded ALU in 2013, said that they want to create a university that offers knowledge needed by Africans in addressing challenges of the 21st century.

“We have collaboration with School of Business, Harvard, Mackenzie and Wotton. Students will undertake courses from such schools via internet once per four months. Thereafter teachers from these schools will come to Rwanda and teach students face to face,” he said.

Swaniker said that a cheap university of America requires the payment of USD 240,000 in four years and have enough time for break.He explained that students in ALU have eight months of study within a year while remaining four months are spent at work to the extent that a student completes four years period of study with one year of working experience.

Its first branch was launched in Mauritius with 180 students while the second branch will be opened in Kigali in September.

Dr Donald Kaberuka heading the international advising council appreciated such efforts to collaborate with others for Africa’s transformation.

“Education in African universities has lagged behind. When I was the president of African Bank of Development, I faced complicated work and wondered on what to do. Rich people send their children for education abroad while the remaining majority study in weak universities with inadequate capacity,” he said.

Dr Kaberuka said that the January WEF held in Davos on Transformation on technology related activities demonstrated that needed reforms are rooted on knowledge and talents other than money.

“ALU is trying to offer such knowledge within short possible time so that Africa will be self sufficient in economy while the majority of citizens have jobs,” he said.

Graça Machel, the wife of late Nelson Mandela and leader of ALU said that they target to acquaint the youth with needed knowledge in building ‘Africa we all need’.

“ALU connects youth from all corners of Africa in every higher learning institute. Working with ALU presents chances of gaining more international knowledge no matter whether one is rich or poor”, she said.

Swaniker says that his university will emerge among first universities of the world in the next 15 years. Fred Swaniker was in 2006 recognized as the first world growing entrepreneur with activities transforming people’s livelihoods. In 2011, Forbes ranked him among ten young opinion leaders in Africa.