The Government of Rwanda, with partners such as the Canadian High Commission in Kigali, Mastercard Foundation and the International Development Research Center are restyling university training through a unique industry-based program at the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). Dubbed, AIMS Co-operative Masters degree in mathematical sciences, the 18-month program currently taught at three AIMS centres including Rwanda, Senegal and Cameroon, offers students work-Integrated Learning,assimilating class-based education into an authentic, work-based context. For years, many an employer in Rwanda, and in Africa by extension, have complained about the quality of graduates that universities are churning out these days, whom they find wanting and unready for the labour market. The issue has always been attributed to ‘skills-mismatch to available jobs.’ It’s that mismatch that the AIMS Industry Initiative seeks to address through the AIMS Co-operative Masters degree in mathematical sciences, with support from the MasterCard Foundation. On Wednesday this week, I attended the graduation of ten students from six African countries including four from Rwanda, who pioneered the course some eighteen months ago, as they received their certificates at a small but colourful ceremony held at the AIMS Centre in Kigali. Sighs of relief, experience of joy, and hope in the future, as the graduates, armed with that light hard-paper printout called the transcript as well as degree certificate, head out to face the world. The academic staff looking on, with admiration, evidence of their own effort. On the day of graduation, the AIMS Centre compound in Remera fit its Pan-African profile as family and friends of the ten graduating students from six different countries joined to witness the once in a lifetime moment for those that are lucky to pursue their academic dreams that far. There were ten of them; four from Rwanda, and one each, from Chad, Madagascar, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria. When one of them, Sylvera Massawe from Tanzania, was asked to deliver a speech on behalf of her colleagues, it immediately emerged that the institute has not only trained mathematical scientists but great orators too! “Graduating means we are winners! We thought, tried and we have achieved. May we approach other life challenges with this attitude of trying, and never be afraid of failure. To quote one of the great scientists we aspire to be, Albert Einstein; a person who never made a mistake never tried anything new,” she said. The nature of their training will be a great asset as they set out to face those life challenges. Each of the students, right after their ordinary classroom coursework undertook a six-month internship practice with recognised companies in Rwanda, where they were handed problems to solve. It is that industry experience that makes the Coop-Master’s program a special one as it means by the time they graduate, the students have been tasted, by subjecting them to real challenges to which they are required to find solutions, using mathematical science approaches taught in classroom. Unlike traditional university training that focuses on student grades and scores from classroom course works, the Coop Master’s program instead focuses on the student’s ability to apply theoretical knowledge to finding solutions to real industry problems. The approach is also helping change the poor perception that many Rwandan companies have previously had towards internship. It is the whole idea behind industry initiative; a partnership between local companies and AIMS Rwanda that offers Coop Master’s students an opportunity to get hands-on experience until close mentorship and regular supervision. Organisations in public and private sector, including Rwanda Revenue Authority, AC Group, Ecobank, Bank of Africa, Saham Insurance, and I&M each worked with one of the students, assigning them advance solutions to some of their organizational problems. The other companies that have committed to actively support the industry initiative include Bank of Kigali, Equity Bank, National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, Rwanda Energy Group, Airtel-Rwanda, MTN-Rwanda, RwandAir and KCB-Rwanda. It is expected that as more companies support the Industry Initiative by opening their doors to students that are keen on testing their problem solving abilities, the longstanding challenge of ‘jobs-skills mismatch’ will ultimately be solved as more of Africa’s youth gain relevant skills that facilitate their transition from studies to meaningful employment opportunities. The views expressed in this article are of the author.
