Use yours skills to address Continent's most pressing problems - President Kagame tells African students

President Paul Kagame has urged Africa's Youth to use their skills and knowledge to help address the Continent's most pressing problems.

The head of state made the call at the official inauguration of the Carnegie Mellon University - Africa Campus.

The brand new Campus has state of the art lecture halls, libraries and even Teleconferencing Capabilities that allow cross Lectures between Africa and the US Simultaneously.

Officially inaugurating the Campus, Rwanda's President noted on the significance of it being in the country.

"CMU-Africa is an anchor of the Kigali Innovation City which is a critical part of Rwanda’s vision for the future. Like the rest of our continent, Rwanda’s economic growth depends on making the right links between technology and industry, and knowledge and production," President Kagame said. 

The Carnegie Mellon University - Africa Campus had for the past 8 years been operating from Telecom House here in Kigali and students say the new venue is much better than the old one.

"It has far more Lecture rooms than Telecom House and the capability to transmit 5 Teleconference Lectures between Kigali and Pittsburg at the same time, in either direction, which was not possible at the old Campus. Also, it has nice gardens where we can rest and relax, which promotes good health,"  Flaterne Kagame, CMU Africa Student Body President 

Farnham Jahanian, President of CMU's also hailed the inauguration of the Campus as a great achievement for Rwanda.

"We are so grateful that the Rwanda Government invited us to be a strategic partner in the transformation of Rwanda. We are especially proud to be the only top U.S. research university offering master’s degrees with a full-time faculty, staff, and operations in Africa. We believe that investing in Africa’s young people is investing in a competitive and inclusive global economy, and for that reason, we have made a long-term commitment to bring our world-class education to Africa" Farnam said. 

Since starting its operations in 2011, CMU Africa has awarded close to 200 Masters Degrees and currently has 130 students from 17 African Countries.

President Paul Kagame has, therefore, urged Africa's Youth to use their skills and knowledge to help address the Continent's most pressing problems.

"The presence of CMU-Africa in Rwanda has obvious advantages that I hope all the students will take full advantage of. First, this world-class education is offered right here on the continent to young Africans who are able to learn and do in the very context of challenges that need to be addressed. This makes a difference in terms of solutions that are informed by reality. It will also contribute to the accelerated transformation we want especially by developing a strong cadre of job creators," President Kagame noted. 

He added, "We look forward to the community of skilled engineers and researchers being trained here, serving Africa and beyond as has been the case in some instances. We trust that they will also connect with their peers across the world to solve challenges that affect us all."

CMU Africa now sits on a 6,000 Hectare Campus that cost Frw9 Billion to construct.