As part of its 18-month Systems Change Program – Employability (SCP-E) with The Education Collaborative, a delegation from the University of Rwanda (UR) recently visited Ashesi University and the University of Cape Coast (UCC). The three-day experiential learning visit to Ashesi, marked a significant milestone in UR’s efforts to strengthen its institutional systems in career services, alumni engagement, entrepreneurship, and transformative leadership – areas central to the SCP-E’s aim of helping African universities build the structures that prepare students for meaningful careers, ethical leadership, and entrepreneurial impact.
Represented by Prof. Raymond Ndikumana (Vice Chancellor for Strategic Planning) and Prof. Celestin Ntivuguruzwa (Associate Professor and Deputy Program Director of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program), the team engaged Ashesi’s leadership, faculty, and staff to learn first-hand from practices that have shaped Ashesi into a continental leader in student-centered education.
Learning for Systemic Change
With over 32,000 students and 80,000 alumni across 11 campuses, the University of Rwanda is a vital engine for the country’s future workforce and leadership. Yet, as Prof. Ndikumana explained, “Having a degree is one thing, but where will the degree take you? It is very important to ask how education improves quality of life, how it supports independence, and how it prepares students to give back to their communities.”
Through ongoing mentorship from Ashesi and UCC, UR seeks to create a clearly defined career services structure, operationalize its innovation hubs, and embed intentionally designed transformative leadership programs to shape ethical and responsible leaders. The program is designed to reach at least 15,000 students within 18 months, through a blend of in-person workshops and online learning experiences.
Building Structures that Last
Currently, UR has career specialists across its colleges, but no central career services department. By the end of the program, the university aims to establish fully functioning career centers, equipped with trained staff, structured student pathways, and strong industry partnerships. Lessons from Ashesi’s ecosystem – where career support spans from first-year orientation through graduation – are serving as a blueprint for what UR hopes to replicate.
Equally significant is the effort to track and engage alumni. With 80,000 graduates but limited data on their trajectories, UR is piloting an alumni tracking platform and annual graduate survey to strengthen connections and foster a culture of belonging. “We want our graduates to feel proud to remain associated with the university,” Prof. Ndikumana noted. This data will help inform program reviews, employer engagement, and long-term student success strategies.
Transformative Leadership and Entrepreneurship
Another cornerstone of the program is transformative leadership development. Inspired by Ashesi’s Giving Voice to Values Africa (GVV) initiative, UR intends to embed ethical leadership training across its curriculum. “We recruit the best students in the country, who inevitably become leaders,” Prof. Ndikumana reflected. “But what kind of leaders do they become? This partnership helps us to be more intentional about cultivating ethical, responsible leadership.”
On entrepreneurship, Ashesi’s structured framework for student development, including year-by-year engagement plans and the integration of faculty in entrepreneurial support. While entrepreneurship is already taught as a course at UR, the university hopes to design a five-year strategy and strengthen its innovation hubs to help students turn ideas into ventures.
Why the Collaborative’s Support Matters
The mentorship program goes beyond simply exchanging ideas to building sustainable systems that can transform outcomes for students in Rwanda and beyond. Through the Education Collaborative, institutions learn from one another via mentorship, technical guidance, and shared frameworks.
The SCP is intentionally designed to rebuild and redesign institutional systems rather than run short-term programs. It equips universities with tools, mentorship, and funding to create structures that sustain change long after the engagement. Program leads benefit from job shadowing, training, and capacity building, supported by tailored mentorship from exemplar institutions, with Ashesi and UCC serving as UR’s mentors.
“We are talking about institutional change,” Prof. Ndikumana emphasized. “At the end of 18 months, we expect a clearly defined way of supporting students – where students know what to expect from career services, and career units understand what they can offer.”
For UR, the anticipated outcomes include strengthened employability systems, robust alumni engagement, intentional ethical leadership development, a thriving entrepreneurship ecosystem, and improved tracking and data systems to inform continuous learning. These directly align with Rwanda’s national priorities around youth empowerment, employability, and innovation.
As Prof. Ndikumana concluded, “We couldn’t ask for a better partner on the continent than Ashesi. Ashesi’s reputation speaks for itself, and we are eager to be part of that success story.”
UR also joins a growing continental community of practice – an ongoing platform for sharing learnings and strengthening systems across African institutions.
