HUYE - The National University of Rwanda, the country’s oldest and biggest public institution of higher learning, is slated to conduct its second graduation ceremony of the year on October 15, the Varsity’s Director of Academic Quality has revealed.

Dr. Bon Fils Safari, in an interview with The New Times, said that the graduation ceremony will see 217 students conferred with Bachelors and Masters Degrees in various disciplines.

The university last held a graduation ceremony in March this year and according to Dr Safari, the October graduation ceremony is meant to allow those students who, for various reasons, missed the March event receive their academic awards.

Among the students are 65 post-graduate students from the School of Public Health in Kigali who completed their courses after the March graduation ceremony.

"The original idea for organising the October graduation ceremony came from the School of Public Health which has a partnership with Tulane University in the USA. It is through this partnership that we got funds to organise this graduation,” said Safari.

Dr. Safari said that the ceremony will also benefit students who could not complete their dissertations in time for the March graduation and those who completed their studies under the evening programme.

"Evening students like those from the School of Public Health could not graduate because they do not fit in the day-time academic year,” he added.

According to Dr Safari, the University in future intends to organise graduation ceremonies at faculty levels. The move is intended to cut down on the cost of organising one big graduation ceremony and also allowing students who complete school to graduate immediately other than wait to graduate in the March the following year.

Safari noted that graduation ceremonies will be entrusted to the faculties; in a system whereby the university will have a week of graduation in which each faculty will have a day to graduate its students.

This, he said, will cut down on the costs involved in organising one graduation ceremony. The University spends about Rwf50 million to organise a single graduation ceremony, whereas the forthcoming graduation is expected to cost about Rwf8million, according to Safari.

"The principle of organising graduation ceremonies at faculty levels has been approved by senate. What remains is how this can be well planned for implementation,” said Safari.

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