President Paul Kagame met with the Chairperson of the University of Rwanda (UR) Board, Dr. Pradeep K. Khosla, and Vice-Chairperson Ivan Murenzi, for talks covering the university’s continued role in Rwanda’s development.
The meeting took place on 30 July 2026 at Urugwiro Village, according to the Office of the President.
“Today at Urugwiro Village, President Kagame met with Dr. Pradeep K. Khosla, Chairperson of the University of Rwanda Board, and Mr. Ivan Murenzi, Vice-Chairperson. They discussed the University of Rwanda’s strategic direction and continued efforts to strengthen the quality of teaching, research and innovation, while building the skills needed to support Rwanda’s socioeconomic development.”
The University of Rwanda continues to undergo reforms aimed at supporting the country’s drive to build a knowledge-based economy.
The university traces its roots to 1963. In September 2013, it was formally reconstituted in its current form, merging the former National University of Rwanda (UNR) with six other public institutions of higher learning into a single public university.
Between 1963 and 1993, the institution graduated a total of 2,997 students. After the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, from 1995 to 2013, the then National University of Rwanda produced 50,490 graduates for the job market. In the decade since the 2013 merger, up to 2025, the university has graduated 72,000 students.
The University of Rwanda was established to deliver quality education and drive innovation in teaching and research, aimed at addressing challenges facing communities, students, the country, the region, and the world.
In 2024, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Didas Kayihura Muganga, said merging institutions that had each operated independently, with their own systems, required significant work, not simply combining course content, but aligning everything around a shared direction and set of values, a process that takes time.
“For example, what we’re investing in education today, you may only see the results some 15 years from now. Education is something you invest in without expecting an immediate return,” he said.
Those reforms are already bearing fruit: the university recently ranked among the top 10 in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the 2024 Times Higher Education report.
The report drew on data from 129 universities across 22 Sub-Saharan African countries, assessing the role these institutions play in their countries’ development. It measures 20 indicators across five categories, scoring universities against one another before calculating an overall ranking of how well they address challenges facing the African continent. Those indicators include financial resources, transparency, student engagement, governance, and overall impact on the continent.
The University of Rwanda placed eighth on the list, evidence that the reforms carried out in recent years are paying off and raising the quality of education for its students.
