The Programme is established to provide research-training support to UR which will enhance its contribution to the socio-economic transformation of Rwanda. The Programme is run by UR Directorate of Research in Partnership with Örebro University, Karolinska Institute (KI), and Lund University (LU). The essence for the collaboration is to leverage on what has already been achieved in establishing research training support systems anchored in the fundamental goal of making the University of Rwanda self-sustaining, by fostering long-term partnerships for synergy. This Programme will contribute to the University’s ambition of being a research led university by 2025 which requires strong support to strengthen the research governance systems, and improve grant and project management. In addition, there is a need to establish research communication and uptake capacities as well as data management, while enhancing academic writing skills and improving English language proficiency of UR’s researchers and postgraduate students.
With the three Swedish partner universities, the UR Directorate of Research develops policies, train staff in various aspects of research administration and managements and through targeted approach to increase the participation of academic staff in research, with special consideration for the female and junior academics. This will entail availing competitive grants to UR researchers to engage in research and supervision. The other initiatives that are to be addressed include increasing the number of successful grant applications and the quality and quantity of research output by the academics. This is to be achieved through the subscription to databases such as Web of Science. The ultimate outcome of this initiative is to have the necessary critical mass of researchers who can generate the knowledge that will significantly contribute to knowledge based economy for social economic transformation of Rwanda.
It is envisaged that this programme will not only bring about enhanced research management capacity in the UR but it will also improve the research environment, culture, output, uptake, visibility and contribution to socioeconomic transformation of Rwanda and develop a long lasting partnership with the Swedish Universities.
