{"id":2000128150,"date":"2026-10-06T11:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T09:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000128150"},"modified":"2026-10-06T12:12:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T10:12:05","slug":"phd-qualified-university-lecturers-rise-to-1360-in-rwanda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/phd-qualified-university-lecturers-rise-to-1360-in-rwanda\/","title":{"rendered":"PhD-qualified university lecturers rise to 1,360 in Rwanda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Data from the Ministry of Education shows that the number of lecturers with PhDs increased from 1,091 in 2023\/2024 to 1,360 in 2024\/2025, representing a 24.6% increase in one year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 1,360 lecturers with PhDs, 1,144 were men and only 216 were women. Women therefore accounted for 15.9% of lecturers with PhDs, compared with 84.1% for men.
Despite the wide gender gap, the number of women with PhDs has generally increased over the past five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were 141 women with PhDs in 2020\/2021, rising to 162 in 2021\/2022 and 179 in 2022\/2023, before falling slightly to 169 in 2023\/2024. The number then rose to 216 in 2024\/2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This represents an increase of 47 women, or nearly 28%, in one year.
Among men, the number of PhD holders increased from 922 in 2023\/2024 to 1,144 in 2024\/2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the number of lecturers with PhDs increased from 976 in 2020\/2021 to 1,360 in 2024\/2025. However, women’s share of lecturers with PhDs grew only modestly, from 14% to 15.9% over the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gender gap is not limited to lecturers with PhDs.
In 2024\/2025, universities and higher learning institutions in Rwanda had 5,463 lecturers, including 4,283 men and 1,180 women. Women accounted for 21.6% of all lecturers, while men represented 78.4%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has nevertheless been progress compared with previous years. In 2020\/2021, women accounted for 809 of the 4,301 lecturers, or 18.8%. Their number had increased to 1,180 by 2024\/2025, raising their share to 21.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public higher learning institutions had 2,517 lecturers, including 539 women, representing 21.4%. Private institutions had 2,946 lecturers, of whom 641, or 21.8%, were women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most lecturers hold Master’s degrees<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report shows that while the number of PhD holders is increasing, Master’s degree holders make up the largest group of university lecturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024\/2025, 2,935 lecturers, or 53.7% of the total, held Master’s degrees. They included 2,265 men and 670 women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PhD holders numbered 1,360, accounting for nearly a quarter of all lecturers. Another 936 lecturers held Bachelor’s degrees, including 683 men and 253 women, while 232 had qualifications below Bachelor’s degree level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry of Education says the rise in the number of lecturers with PhDs reflects continued efforts by academics to advance their educational qualifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the low number of women reaching PhD level remains an area requiring greater support to enable more women to pursue advanced studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increase in PhD holders came as the overall number of lecturers at universities and higher learning institutions also grew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of lecturers rose from 4,577 in 2023\/2024 to 5,463 in 2024\/2025, an increase of 886 lecturers, or 19.3% in one year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The number of lecturers with PhDs in Rwanda increased from 976 in 2020\/2021 to 1,360 in 2024\/2025. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The number of university and higher education lecturers in Rwanda holding doctoral degree (PhD) increased significantly in the 2024\/2025 academic year, although women remain significantly underrepresented at this level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000128152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000128150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000128152,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/105dm7l9187gggg.jpg","alt":"","caption":"The number of lecturers with PhDs in Rwanda increased from 976 in 2020\/2021 to 1,360 in 2024\/2025. ","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":667,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/105dm7l9187gggg.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/105dm7l9187gggg.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/105dm7l9187gggg.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/105dm7l9187gggg.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/105dm7l9187gggg.jpg","width":1000,"height":667}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000128150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000128150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000128150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000128153,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000128150\/revisions\/2000128153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000128152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000128150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000128150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000128150"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000128150"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000128150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}