KIE staff must step up research efforts

The Rector of Kigali Institute of Education [KIE], Prof. George Njoroge Monday called upon his lecturers to step up research efforts. The Professor also decried the lack of significance the lecturers attached to research “yet it improves intellectual capacity and is a benchmark for promotion”. “There is lack of mentoring and modelling by senior academics. Some have never produced any scholarly work, conducted a departmental seminar, workshop or conference since joining KIE,” Prof. Njoroge said. He said this during a workshop held at the institute.The day’s theme is “Importance of research in higher institutions of learning: KIE initiative to foster basic and interdisciplinary Research”. According to the Professor, this was directed at emphasising the significance of research to lecturers and students in the institution. “There is little hope for promoting staff who are not engaged in research. Promotion requires demonstration of scholarship and research engagement. This is also a requirement by the National Council for Higher Education [NCHE],” Njoroge said while connecting research with quality professionalism. Speaking to professors, Njoroge said, “You are called professors meaning that you have to profess. If you don’t carry out research, you are only going to be known for what you quote from others.” He stressed that senior lecturers should be models and should mentor students into perfecting research skills. Prof. Pontien Ndabaneza, part of the research faculty at KIE, revealed that in 2007 -2008 there were 15 publications by KIE and with 150 lecturers, the average publication at the institution was 0.1. However, James Vuningoma, the Vice Rector of KIE defended the lecturers saying that they have a tight schedule and therefore have little time to effectively carryout research. And he said that the timetables need to be revised in order to avail enough time to lecturers to effectively carry out research. “The lecturers have a lot of work to do. Maybe we shall look at allocating a semester for research,” he said. Anthony Kamanzi, a senior lecturer in the linguistics department said that due to a tight schedule, it is now five years since he started working on a book for publication. “Because of the heavy workload, it has taken me five years to complete a book. Initially I wanted to publish it in France but now with the situation of France and Rwanda, I might take it to Britain,” he told The New Times in an interview. Ends