At a time when Africa would be reaping from the demographic
dividend that benefited East Asian economies, some countries are
moving to make a difference by promoting higher education,
partnerships and collaborations to improve the employability of
African youth. One such effort is taking shape between a top-
ranked US research institution, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
and the government of Rwanda, in a collaboration CMU-R, to
deliver graduate programmes with an in-country presence and
resident faculty. The initiative, now provides scholarships,
paying 50 percent of tuition fees for students from the East
African region by the Rwanda government, to get US standards
education that is focused on science, technology, engineering
and Mathematics (STEM) education. “We are hoping to attract
brilliant minds to get a world class education that is adapted
to the region’s needs,” said Michel Bézy an associate Director,
Carnegie Mellon University in Rwanda at the recent Science
Technology and Innovation (ST&I) Forum i