University leads Rwandan scholarships project

A group of Rwandan women are set to benefit from scholarships to Scottish universities, thanks to an initiative led by Professor Emeritus in Gender Relations Gerda Siann and supported by Dundee graduate Gordon McInally.

Ten Scottish universities are offering scholarship places to Rwandan women this year as part of the Rotary University Scholarship Scheme, Rwanda (RUSSR),which has already helped revitalise education in the African country.

The universities involved are Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow Caledonian, St Andrews, Stirling, Aberdeen, Abertay, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde. In all, eleven places are being made available to Rwandan women. Study fees are waived by the universities to make it easier for the Rwandan women to come and study in Scotland. The Ministry of Education in Rwanda pays living costs.

The University plays a central role in the programme and will be hosting three lunches for the Rwandan students over the academic year in order for them to maintain links with each other. In his capacity as President of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, Dundee alumnus Gordon McInally has organised for the organisation to link each student with a support family, and help handle the financial and organisational arrangements.

He said, "I am delighted that Rotary in Scotland is supporting this scholarship scheme through the provision of host counsellors for each of the students, a role which we already carry out in the Ambassadorial Scholarship programme administered by The Rotary Foundation which is the largest privately funded scholarship scheme in the world.

"As a graduate myself, I am very grateful to the University for the role it is playing in the scheme as well as the generosity of all the universities in providing places for the scholars.

"I am familiar with Rwanda through the time I have spent there working on the project 'Rotary's Africa Hope' which is helping the orphans of the genocide and HIV/AIDS. I am confident that RUSSR will help the development of this very worthy country."

Gerda, who recently visited Rwanda, said, "In the two years since I was last in the country the progress in social, economic and educational areas has been most impressive.

"Everybody I spoke to in Rwanda told me of their optimism for the future in Rwanda, and many particularly in the Ministry of Education expressed their thanks to the universities of Scotland in contributing to this."

The scholarship scheme was set up as a registered charity to further the education of Rwandan women and contribute to capacity building in a country which had been devastated by genocide.