University of Rwanda (UR) is considering increasing its hostel capacity to accommodate up to 60 percent of undergraduate students within five years.
The institution currently accommodates about 23 percent of undergraduate students, according to Ignatius Kabagambe, its spokesperson.
UR has more than 30,000 students across six colleges, with 87 undergraduates and 138 postgraduate programmes.
With the new target, the varsity will accommodate up to 18,000 of its students if its plans are realised.
Despite the plans to increase the number of hostels, Kabagambe said that UR has no issues related to accommodation as most of its students rely on rented homes in the communities around its nine campuses.
“However, the university has plans to gradually expand its hostel facilities, starting next year. The goal is to increase capacity so that within five years, 60 percent of students at each campus will have access to on-campus accommodation,” he said.
For example, Kabagambe said, this year, 900 additional rooms will be built at the Nyarugenge campus to meet students’ housing needs.
“Priority for hostel rooms is given to students with disabilities, followed by first-year students, with a particular focus on female students, and additional allocations are made to other female students in subsequent years.
“Rooms are only allocated to students who have registered and applied for accommodation. Each campus has a committee responsible for ensuring fairness and transparency in the allocation of hostel rooms,” he added
Prisca Gikundiro, a student residing in the Benghazi hostels, emphasizes the urgent need for expanded accommodation due to the current scarcity of available rooms.
She recounts the struggles faced at the beginning of the term, where many students who applied for rooms had to wait days for placement, often in different rooms than originally assigned.
“Also, the hostel canteen was repurposed to provide more space.”
Gikundiro underscores the importance of hostel living for safety, particularly for female students,
“Most of us girls find it more safe to stay in hostels, creating more space would be a good thing.” she added
Hostel rooms are allocated to students at the start of every academic year.
The University of Rwanda was formed in 2013 following the merger of the then National University of Rwanda (NUR) and six other higher learning public institutions.
UR will hold its 10th graduation on October 25, with over 8,000 students set to graduate.
More than 72,000 students have graduated from the university since 2014.
By Levy Gasana / Kaminuza Star