President Paul Kagame has received the president of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Rwanda, Subra Suresh with whom he discussed the vision of transforming the university into a center of excellence in technology in Africa.
Carnegie Mellon University is among universities accommodating students to get trainings in technology. The government of Rwanda requested CMU to operate in the country to strengthen a technology-based economy.
Talks between President Kagame and Subra Suresh have revolved around the productivity of CMU which has, in the last four years, released three cohorts of students with Masters of science in Information Technology. The post-graduate students are from Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.
Carnegie Mellon in Rwanda has recently received the aid of USD 8 million from MasterCard Foundation to enable 125 students from different Sub-Sahara countries to attend courses at the university where 40% will be Rwandans.
Rwanda is the only African country hosting the branch of Carnegioe Mellon University.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Papias Musafiri said that it was realized that graduates from this school demonstrate good performance. He said that with such good performance, the number of students applying to study at the university increased.
“The number of students is increasing.Students from 13 African countries have applied,” he said.
Carnegie Mellon is expected to become a center for research and innovation that it will have a role in the project of Kigali Innovation City.
The government of Rwanda in the 2016/2017 national budget allocated Rwf 7 billion to build a branch of Carnegie Mellon (CMU) in the country. The allocated budget will yield several benefits including minimizing costs of sending students to study technology in America.
Currently, Carnegie Mellon University Rwanda operates at Telecom House, Kacyiru.
It is expected that Carnegie Mellon will get its headquarters in the locality of Kigali Economic Zone, a place reserved for Kigali Innovation City.
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