Background

Internet has been hailed as one of the most fascinating discovery of the century. The speed and the ubiquity upon which it has been adopted have brought people to say that it might be since the capture of fire the most transforming technology. Internet has brought hope to remove the geographical, historical and political barriers that have prevented people to collaborate and share good practices in various areas. Internet is providing unprecedented opportunity for growth and change in society and has the potential to drive economies based on information and knowledge, therefore education system in Rwanda and higher education and research centres in particular have to be well equipped in order to take full advantage of this important tool for development and dissemination of knowledge in the Rwandan society and beyond.

Universities in Rwanda have been in the forefront of the adoption of Internet. As early as 1999, the National University of Rwanda and the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology acquired VSAT system from the Leland Initiatives, a USAID based project to support universities in sub Saharan Africa with Internet connectivity via satellite. Meanwhile the cost of access has significantly prevent the growth of Internet usage and therefore its impact in terms of increasing quality of teaching and research remain very limited..

Access to decent bandwidth would make several things possible for Rwandese researchers and educators.  It would provide the opportunity to use ICTs to exchange ideas and to work with their peers elsewhere in the region and the world. Collaboration is at the heart of research, and much of this collaboration today is being mediated through information and communication technologies, whether it’s online peer review processes or videoconferencing of critical medical procedures. Internet will help our researchers to keep up with the latest development in their area of predilections. Good bandwidth could mean to our researchers access to vast repositories of online publications such as PERI, HINARI, AGORA, etc…

Key to unlocking this bandwidth problem in our educational sector is collective. As it has happened in other parts of the world, the creation of a national consortium of universities can allow tapping into economies of scale which in turn could significantly reduce the cost of bandwidth for members’ institution of the consortium. As the lifeblood of the country, our universities and research centers need special consideration when it comes to Internet access in term of regulatory dispensation as well as price negotiation with bandwidth providers. Through such a consortium of universities, our educational sector can have solid information and communication infrastructure which is one of the key to enhance the capacity of our universities to draw, retain and attract scholars. It could also make our universities attractive places for other researchers (Northern and southern) and educators as well, reversing the flow of intellectual capital out of our universities (brain-gain) and deepening the exchange of knowledge between our country and Northern countries, our country and southern countries.

It is against this background that the Rectors of public higher learning institutions in Rwanda decided to establish the Rwanda Education and Research Network (RWEDNET) during the meeting that took place at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in May 2006. The decision was taken following a technical report made by representatives from the higher learning institutions that stated the major challenges that the respective institutions are facing in terms of overcoming ICT access, usage and value within the academic, research and administration as a whole. The main entry point to create the RWEDNET consortium is mainly to commonly address the issue of Internet connectivity that come across all institutions of higher learning.