Premier urges graduates to be agents of positive change by upholding ethical values

The Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Edouard Ngirente challenged UR graduates to impact and transform lives in their respective communities. He said becoming the agents of positive change by upholding the ethical values acquired from University should be top among their ambitions. The Prime Minister said this Friday 18th November 2022 during UR 8th graduation ceremony which took place in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province. He was the Guest of Honour at the event where 5702 students from the six colleges of the University graduated.

Students who graduated include 25 PhDs, 628 Masters, 4,717 Bachelors, 96 Advanced Diplomas, 190 Diplomas, 42 Postgraduate Certificates and 4 Postgraduate Diplomas.

Among these graduates, 68 Masters and 4 PhDs are from the African Centre of Excellence in Energy for Sustainable Development.

The Premier said the Government is aware of the various challenges that University is faced with. Having said that, he assured the institution of Government commitment to continue supporting the University of Rwanda to fulfill its mission of improving the quality of education for national transformation.

“As we know, improving quality education in Higher Learning Institutions is a process. It cannot happen overnight. This is our priority because we all recognize the critical role of research in generating innovation-based solutions”, he said, adding that the Government is aware of the challenges that the University of Rwanda is still facing. He reminded his audience of Government’s full commitment to address the issues within available means, in a sustainable manner.

The Vice Chancellor Dr. Kayihura Muganga Didas highlighted that the expectation from the world to graduates is such that every one will have improved capacity to solve problems and turn situations around. “Having greater abilities to play enhanced roles individually and collectively in the social, economic and political transformation of our countries, continent and the world is the standard gauge against which you will be measured from now onwards”, he said.

Students who graduated expressed satisfaction towards the support they acquired from UR to complete their studies. Kehinde Adeyeye from Nigeria, a PhD graduate who specialized in Renewable Energy at attributes her success to ‘committed’ supervisors she was allocated to. “I had the opportunity to work with world class supervisors. It was a process of learning and development”, she disclosed.

For the first time in UR history, graduates went home with their degree certificates along with their academic transcripts. Previously students had to wait for a long time after graduation to get their degree certificates. It is an improvement the University is proud to have made.