On 9 May, the inauguration ceremony of the Kigali Field Station of the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS), Tsinghua University, and the academic dialogue on "Social Development and Sustainability in the Global South from a New Developmentalist Perspective" were held at the University of Rwanda. The Kigali Field Station, established by the Institute for International and Area Studies of Tsinghua University and the University of Rwanda, will provide a platform for Tsinghua University and its partner institutions to conduct field research, which will help to promote transnational academic exchanges and cooperation, and to explore the direction and path of the development of regional country studies.
Welcome speech by H.E. Wang Xuekun, Ambassador of China to Rwanda
The inauguration ceremony was presided over by Dr Yang Chongsheng, Assistant Director and Assistant Professor of the IIAS at Tsinghua University. At the beginning of the ceremony, H.E. Wang Xuekun, Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda, delivered a welcome speech. The ambassador said that the inauguration ceremony was of far-reaching significance and a milestone in Sino-Rwandan academic exchanges and cooperation, and that the establishment of the Kigali Field Station would help people of the two countries to enhance their mutual understanding, and lay a solid foundation for the exchanges and friendship between the two countries. Zhao Jinsong, Associate Director of IIAS, Tsinghua University, and Françoise Kayitare Tengera, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance of the University of Rwanda, delivered opening speeches, in which both sides introduced the development of the two universities, emphasised the necessity of multidisciplinary and multi-country research cooperation between the two sides and looked forward to the future academic research cooperation between the two universities. Both sides introduced the development of the two universities and stressed the necessity of multidisciplinary and multi-country research cooperation between the two sides, and looked forward to the future academic research of the two universities. On behalf of the Minister of Public Service and Labour, Amos Mfitundinda, Acting Head of Department, greeted the establishment of the Kigali Field Station, and expected that the Kigali Field Station, while serving as a platform for academic exchanges between the two countries to deepen the academic capacity building of the two sides, could also become a platform for academic exchanges within the region to promote the further development of African studies.
At the ceremony, Associate Director Zhao Jinsong and Deputy Vice Chancellor Françoise inaugurated the Kigali Field Station of the IIAS of Tsinghua University, followed by a group photo of all the participants.
Inauguration of the Kigali Field Station
In the morning of the same day, the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS), Tsinghua University, and the University of Rwanda co-organized an academic dialogue on "Social Development and Sustainability in the Global South from a New Developmentalist Perspective". Prof. Zhu Xufeng, Dean of the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Dr. Joseph Nkurunziza, Acting Principal of the College of Business and Economics at the University of Rwanda, Prof. Yasuyuki Kono, Vice-President of Kyoto University, Prof. Li Xiaoyun, Honorary Dean of the College of International Development and Global Agriculture/South-South Agricultural Cooperation Institute at China Agricultural University and Dr. Alphonse Muleefu, Acting Principal of the College of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Rwanda, delivered keynote speeches. Scholars engaged in a lively discussion on Rwanda's development model, Rwanda's agricultural development, the journey of national reconciliation after the Genocide against the Tutsi, and the political economy and social development of the global South. At the end of the academic dialogue, Tim Niblock, Chair Professor at IIAS, Tsinghua University, Emeritus Professor, University of Exeter, delivered a closing speech.
Academic Dialogue
The University of Rwanda (UR) is a public Higher Learning Institution established by the law n° 71/2013 of 10/09/2013. In 2013, the National University of Rwanda (NUR) founded in 1963 together with other six public higher learning institutions were merged to form the University of Rwanda (UR) and has become the largest higher education institution in Rwanda today.
