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Summary Carnegie Mellon University will open a branch campus in Rwanda next year.
Making it the first American university in central Africa, Carnegie Mellon University will open a branch campus in Rwanda next year, officials said.The students, who attend the program in Kigali, Rwandas capital, will get exactly the same diploma as those who attend Carnegie Mellons Pittsburgh campus, officials said. Credits from the two programs will even be fully transferable.Rwandas President, Paul Kagame, will give a speech later Friday in Pittsburgh, announcing details of the program. The first degree offered will be a Master of Science in Information Technology.Branch campuses are common in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, Europe, and China, as are student exchange programs. But actually opening a higher education facility in central Africa is an entirely different thing, said Bruce Jones, a professor at New York University and author of Peacekeeping in Rwanda, an analysis of the events that led to the countrys 1994 genocide.That strikes me as a very significant thing. The odds are very high that thats for the good, Jones said of CMUs plans.The program will target students from east Africa, and will give preference to Rwandan citizens, the university said. However, students from around the world can apply. During the genocide, extremist Hutus killed more than 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda.
