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Rwanda
is a country of 7 million inhabitants in Central Africa,
with borders with
Uganda, Zaire, Burundi, and Tanzania. The capital is Kigali. The common language
of Rwandese is kinyarwanda.
Secondary education is taught in French.
More information on Rwanda can be found in the African Studies WWW/Rwanda at U. Penn. I spent three weeks in Rwanda in September 1995. The country is at a high altitude and the weather at this time of the year was quite nice. The University of Rwanda of located in Butare, about three hour's drive from Kigali. The road between the two cities was very good. The University reopened in April 1995, nine months after the end of the genocide. Before the genocide, the department of mathematics had a staff of 17. In September 1995, the staff was reduced to two graduate students, the other members being either dead, in exile or refugee camps, or in jail. The teaching was done by these graduate students and by temporary visitors from Universities in neighboring countries. The University was eager for academics of all countries to come teach at the University, and will accomodate any schedule. No funds are available for travel, but accomodations and salary are provided. The new government was encouraging the University to start offering courses in English in addition to French. Several faculty members that I met were taking night classes in English to be able to effectively teach courses in English in the near future. For more current information, contact Carol Shubin .
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