15 October 1998

The new "mercy scholarship" scheme for Rwandan women pioneered by the University of Dundee was warmly welcomed today as an enlightened measure directly addressing the needs of the country by two of Rwanda's leading figures.

Rwandan Ambassador Dr Zac Nsenga and Rector of the country's only university Dr Emile Rwamasirabo spent the day at the University of Dundee meeting officials and visiting departments as part of a fact finding tour geared to help in the quest to rebuild the nation. They also met the first winner of the one-year study scholarship Speciosa Nakavuma who started a course in civil engineering at the University on Monday.

"The scholarship scheme addresses one of the fundamental problems of our society - that is elevating the technological know how," said Dr Emile Rwamasirabo. "Only 15% of our 5,000 students are studying science subjects. We need to increase that."

Pointing out the lack of infrastructure and staff in Rwanda itself he said scholarships abroad could be a real solution to increasing skills. "If Speciosa does well we hope she, and others like her, will return to lecture in Rwanda and spread that knowledge," he said. But the value of scholarships such as that at Dundee also extended wider. Stressing the importance of instilling "positive values" he said : "These scholarships open up our youth to the outside world and that is of great importance."

"We want to capitalise on the youth. As the only university in Rwanda it is likely that our future leaders will largely come out of that place. We want to make sure they are clear minded. We want them to have respect for human values...for them to love their country as a whole. "

Ambassador Dr Nsenga appealed to the people of Scotland to open their minds to the Rwanda of today : "We would like people to visit the country, to see what's going on now in Rwanda and understand the positive things that are being done to solve our problems. We hope that through scholarships such as that of Speciosa an interest will be kindled in Rwanda - we are definitely ready to work with the people of Scotland in that framework. "

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