Higher Learning Institutions
The Government of Rwanda (GoR) has prioritised the building of a robust and functional higher education sector.
34 General higher education and 5 Polytechnics institutions 136,079 Learners in General higher education and 17,239 Learners in Polytechnics institutions（https://hec.gov.rw/index.php?id=86）
63,496
Number of graduates from academic year 2015/2016 to 2021/2022 in Public Higher Learning Institutions
74,509
Number of graduates from academic year 2015/2016 to 2021/2022 in Private Higher Learning Institutions
3,401
Number of Rwandan graduates from abroad in academic year 2006/2007 to 2018/2019
HIGHER EDUCATION IN RWANDA
The Government of Rwanda (GoR) has prioritised the building of a robust and functional higher education sector. It is believed that a relevant, flexible and accessible higher education should be able to deliver, develop and produce highly enterprising graduates prepared and dedicated to building a more just and sustainable society locally, nationally, and globally.
Higher education is expected to play a critical role in enabling Rwanda to realize her ambitions of attaining a sustainable development and economic growth as well as building knowledge-based economy . It plays a key role in the generation of new knowledge through research and strengthening of skills through teaching programs. Higher education in Rwanda is provided by both public and private higher learning institutions that are located across the country. It is also categorized into research based universities and technical polytechnics of which those categorized as universities are 31 and 9 are polytechnics. The Higher Education Council (HEC) for the case of universities and WDA for the case of polytechnics were established as regulatory agencies responsible for the maintenance of quality assurance in the provision of higher education to ensure that higher learning institutions in Rwanda produce citizens capable of playing their part in the Rwandan economy and development.
ENROLLMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Before 1994 genocide against Tutsi, higher education was dominated by one institution, the National University of Rwanda/Université Nationale du Rwanda (NUR/UNR). While the system graduated merely 2,000 students in three decades between (1963, when the National University of Rwanda was founded and 1994), there are now 40 HEIs in the country with a total enrollment of 86,140 students (2019). Private higher education institutions dominate the enrollment with 50,421 of which public higher education institutions enrollment are 35,719. Together, private institutions enrolled 57 percent of all tertiary students in 2019. The overall number of students has doubled within the last decade while the tertiary GER jumped from 3 percent in 2005 to around 7.40 percent in 2019 of which enrollments are predominantly in undergraduate programs. As indicated by the pie chart below, the tertiary institutions in Rwanda is highly dominated by the private tertiary institutions with a total of 37 out of 40 tertiary institutions in Rwanda.
The number of public HEIs is tiny despite enrolling 43 percent of students. There are only three public HEIs: the University of Rwanda (UR); the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD), Rwanda’s dedicated postgraduate institution for legal education;