Research cluster champions at the University of Rwanda and their Swedish counterparts met to finalize full proposals in line with the upcoming 5 year support agreement by the Government of Sweden. The move follows the acceptance of UR 35 letters of intent that were submitted in the quest for strengthening institutional research capacity at the UR.
In his remarks, Mr Raymond Ndikumana who is the Overall Coordinator of UR-Sweden Programme noted that the next phase of Swedish support to UR is poised to build research capacity leading to poverty reduction and economic transformation of Rwanda. He added that the potential agreement will also contribute to UR becoming a research led institution which will trigger research that contributes to evidence based policies.
Mr Ndikumana sharing his thoughts about the new agreement
Speaking on the occasion, Veronica Trépagny, the team leader of Library Subprogramme said that the focus of their subprogramme in the next support is to build relationship with academics and students at all levels and ensure that they make use of available resources.
Ms Trépagny (left) and Dr Namuleme, the UR librarian during the meeting
“We are looking at a library that gives support in academic writing, anti- plagiarism and other needed academic research tools such as statistic data etc.,” she said.
Trépagny also added that they are on the verge of communicating and share all the research that have been done in the University of Rwanda ranging from bachelor’s dissertation up to PhD thesis. According to her, the move will also see all research and published papers digitized and made available through the University repository.
Daton Ngilinshuti is the team leader of ICT infrastructure at the University of Rwanda. His subprogramme has been a major driver of research at UR in that it increased the usage of ICT resources, upgraded the ICT infrastructure and built capacity of ICT staff. In the next support agreement, ICT infrastructure is part of the Research supporting component alongside Library and Innovation.
Under the new appellation “ICT Infrastructure and Business Solutions” the sub-programme will integrate research, students, administration and finance in order to alleviate university services and make sure that research can be conducted in a relatively conducive environment.
Mr Ngilinshuti (Left) and Dr Minani, Team Leader Applied Maths and Statistics
“We are going to ensure that academic, administration and finance businesses are entirely incorporated in the system and running smoothly” Said Ngilinshuti, adding that his subprogramme will maximize the usage of available ICT solutions and focus more on the research-need.
The new 5 year agreement between UR and Swedish varsities through Swedish International Development Support Agency (Sida) under the coordination of UR-Sweden Programme is expected to start from 2019-2024. Currently 35 Letters of Intent have been selected and were invited to submit full proposals. All the proposals embrace national and regional priorities, global commitment such us SDGs and other crosscutting areas such as gender and environment.
A section of research cluster Champions in the meeting
By Darius Murangwa
Communications Officer