Kigali, 15 March 2012
President Kagame today received in his office a nine-man delegation from Oklahoma Christian University (OCU) led by the university’s President, Dr. Mike O’Neal. The visit aims to discuss the existing co-operation between Rwanda and Oklahoma Christian University, based on the Presidential Scholarship program which was started in 2006. The university currently supports tuition fee waivers for Rwandan Students studying MBA and MSc. Engineering programs.
Speaking to journalists after meeting President Kagame, Dr. Mike O’Neal said:
“We have 60 Rwandan students on our campus and they are among the finest we got but we are also looking at ways to expand that by offering some educational things here in Rwanda.And one of the things we are working on to expand that partnership is to have our MBA program offered here in Rwanda and perhaps in the future even other academic programs we might be able to bring here as well.”
The proposed program which hopes to attract about 2000 students would commence in August 2012 if all necessary preparations are completed on time.
Rwanda’s Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Vincent Biruta said:
“The masters program hopes to get attract about 2000 students. We also hope to come up with new programs here in Rwanda so that various courses can be available to the students and they won’t have to travel all the way to the United States to be able to access those courses. This would then be cost effective for us and the students. Other universities can then partner so that we can come up with better ways of improving our education system. This can also be done in conjunction with other universities in this country. And hopefully this would strengthen our relationship with Oklahoma University since many students would have access to high quality education.”
The delegation also hopes to assist in building a boarding school, and also partner by offering medical health care.