Turkish Universities are in a drive to attract more Rwandan students. This was disclosed on Saturday during an education fair organised by seven private universities from Turkey in Kigali. According to Caglar Candir, the public relations officer of Edugate, an education consultancy with a branch in Kigali, the institutions offer the same quality of education you can find at top universities in Europe and the United States of America, yet at a relatively lower cost. “The tuition fees in private universities ranges from $6,000 to 10,000 per year, yet in the rest of Europe and USA, it goes as far as $20,000,” he said. On the other hand, Candir said, Turkish state universities charge within the range of $200—1,200 per year. He added that in the last two years, approximately 100 Rwandan students are recorded to have sought Turkish education. “The advantage is that a good number of lecturers at top global universities like Harvard, Oxford, and University of London, also work with these seven universities,” Candir added. Innocent Mugisha, the executive director of Rwanda National Council for Higher Education, lauded the development saying: “The good thing is that these institutions offer not only highly practical, but also badly needed courses like mining engineering.” David Kafuko, a Ugandan and student of bachelors in computer engineering at Gediz University, Southern Turkey said that his school does not only have highly facilitated libraries, but also labarotories. Turkey currently hosts students hailing from 65 countries around the world, “It also gives you chance for multi-cultural interaction,” Kafuko added.
