Academic literature on the topic 'National University of Rwanda'

This aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which writing skills offered in the one-year intensive English course and in the 75 hour course of Speaking and Writing Skills, prepare students for academic writing in the subjects which are offered through the medium of English. The study focused on first year Economics and Management.

In this thesis we aim to study the librarians’ and library users’ views on librarianship and the library at National University of Rwanda. Accordingly, we have gathered information from these groups. The information is based on qualitative interviews as well as observations and participation in a work group for library promotion. The latter made it possible to investigate how respondents consider these issues and how librarians’ self image is expressed in their daily work and in promotion. We analyze the most important frame factors that impede on librarians’ self image and library users’ perception of library services. This makes it possible to understand what probably affects the actual situation at NUR’s library. Marked impeding frame factors established are for example the economy and the organization. Information provided through this thesis could to be shared among library personnel and used as a base for their further development of library services. Our thesis points out library users’ opinions about the library in general as well as the areas that are most critical to improve. These areas are service at the circulation desk, acquisitions and courses in how to retrieve information. It also points out the need for a more explicit professional librarian identity and that the librarians need to work more as knowledge librarians. An explicit identity would imply unified library personnel that would make it possible to work towards common goals and clarify how to conduct daily work.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2007.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-83).<br>Water scarcity is a major issue faced by both developed and developing countries. According to the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations, the number of people that do not have access to an improved water supply should be halved by the year 2015. Rwanda is a Sub-Saharan developing country where water scarcity is an issue. This thesis presents results from a preliminary evaluation of possible groundwater supply to the village of Bisate, located in the Northern Province of Rwanda. Suffering from the "walk for water", the Bisate community has to give up vital activities such as school and agriculture in order to fetch water. During the dry season, the people are obliged to go into the Volcanoes National Park to get water from springs and swamps, disrupting the fragile ecosystem by the human activity. All these factors make it important to provide water at the point of use. Since the region receives a considerable amount of rain and the groundwater recharge rate is high (0.3 m/year), groundwater supply could be a feasible alternative for the Bisate community. For this thesis, three major tasks were achieved.<br>(cont.) First, a description of the park's hydrogeology was developed based on previous studies and field observations. Second, a calculation of the groundwater recharge using the Water Balance Method was completed. And finally, a groundwater model was built using MODFLOW software. The aim of the model is to estimate the depth to the water table. The model results have shown that the water table could be as deep as 750 meters below the ground surface of quite shallow depending on the model assumptions. According to four trials, each with different boundary conditions and internal properties of the medium, the results were found to depend upon the assumed hydraulic conductivity and the boundary conditions. The strongest conclusion is that field investigations of the groundwater system are needed to determine actual aquifer properties and field conditions.<br>by Christiane A. Zoghbi.<br>M.Eng.

La déforestation et la fragmentation en milieu tropical africain facilitent la chasse de subsistance. Les populations des grands mammifères les plus ciblés par la chasse ont déjà fortement diminué et sont désormais menacées d’extinction. Ces changements dans les communautés animales affectent les processus d’interactions entre les organismes et modifient la dynamique de tout l’écosystème forestier. Dans cette étude, nous avons cherché à mettre en évidence dans quelle mesure l’altération des relations entre un arbre et les animaux disperseurs de ses graines en milieu chassé pouvait impacter la régénération forestière. Ce travail a été réalisé dans le Parc National de Nyungwe, Rwanda, où l’éléphant forestier Loxodonta cyclotis est éteint depuis 1999 à cause du braconnage. Dans une première partie, nous avons étudié les stades de régénération, de la dissémination, et la survie des graines jusqu’au recrutement des plantules de Carapa grandiflora (Méliacée), un arbre de canopée qui produit de gros fruits semblables à ceux consommés et dispersés par les éléphants. Les graines sont également consommées et secondairement dispersées par les rongeurs. Dans une deuxième partie, nous avons étudié la diversité des plantes susceptibles d’être disséminées sur de longues distances par les éléphants et à courtes distances par les rongeurs. Malgré l’extinction de l’éléphant, les petits mammifères - dont le rat géant Cricetomys kivuensis - sont toujours présents dans le Parc National de Nyungwe. Les arbres de C. Grandiflora continuent à se régénérer et à produire des fruits dont les graines sont emportées et dispersées par C. Kivuensis. Les graines cachées isolément réussissent à germer et à s’établir autour de l’arbre parent. Par ailleurs, nos résultats mettent en évidence que les éléphants et les rongeurs pourraient interagir pour participer à la régénération des plantes à grosses graines sur des distances plus ou moins éloignées des arbres. Les rongeurs favorisent ainsi la survie et la résilience des espèces forestières à grosses graines qui ont perdu leurs agents de dissémination à longues distances. Les recherches à long terme sont indispensables pour approfondir le rôle des gros rongeurs dans la dynamique des forêts après l’extinction des grands mammifères en forêt tropicale africaine<br>The deforestation and the fragmentation in African tropical forest facilitate subsistence hunting. Large mammals are the most targeted and their populations have been greatly reduced and are now threatened with extinction. These reductions in animal communities are changing the existing dynamics in the entire forest ecosystem by influencing the interactions between organisms. In this study, we aimed at showing how changes in plant – animal interactions in a hunted habitat may in turn, affect plant regeneration. This work was carried out in Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda, where forest elephants, Loxodonta cyclotis were extirpated in 1999 due to poaching. In the first part of this study, we examined the stages of regeneration, from the dissemination, seed dispersal to seedlings recruitment of Carapa grandiflora (Meliaceae), a canopy tree that produces large fruits with large seeds which characteristics are mainly those of fruits eaten by elephants. Seeds of such fruits are also known to be eaten and secondarily dispersed by rodents. In a second part, we reviewed the plants consumed and dispersed by rodents and elephants at short and long distances, respectively. Despite the extinction of the elephant, small mammals including the giant rat, Cricetomys kivuensis are still present in Nyungwe National Park. Carapa grandiflora trees continue to regenerate and produce fruits which seeds are taken and secondarily dispersed by C. Kivuensis. Individually hidden seeds germinate successfully and recruit at distance from the parent tree. Furthermore, our results showed that in intact forests, elephants and rodents might interact to participate in the regeneration of large seeded plants underneath or away from the adult tree. Rodents may thus support the resilience of large seeded forest trees species that have lost their main disperser. Long-term research is needed to determine the role of large rodents in the forest dynamics after the extinction of large mammals in African tropical forest

Depuis aout 1980, l'entreprise pecherie du lac ihema a ete creee pour organiser et gerer les activites de peche dans les lacs du parc national de l'akagera. La peche a ete d'abord developpee dans le lac ihema de 1980 a 1984, puis aussi dans les autres lacs du parc. Les variations des captures, de sa production en valeur financiere, des efforts de peche nominal et effectif et des p. U. E. * ont ete analysees. La part prise dans la production par les lacs du parc autres que le lac ihema est devenue importante depuis 1988. C. Gariepinus, une des especes exploitees dans le lac ihema, a fait l'objet d'une etude de la reproduction, de la fecondite, de la croissance et de l'estimation des parametres demographiques. Les modeles generalises de production ont ete proposes pour la gestion des stocks des tilapia spp. Et c. Gariepinus dans le lac ihema: le diagnostic est celui d'une surexploitation. Pour la peche des tilapia spp. , il faudrait reduire l'effort actuel de 55%; pour la peche de c. Gariepinus, il conviendrait d'encourager sa peche car ses p. U. E. Ne sont pas un indice representatif de son abondance. Un modele de fonctionnement de l'ecosysteme du lac ihema a ete aussi propose: il prevoit la diminution des biomasses des taxons precedents si l'effort augmente; cette augmentation de l'effort n'aurait pas de consequences importantes sur la biomasse des autres compartiments

After the cessation of violent conflict, societies have to undergo several changes to re-establish asense of harmony and repair the broken intergroup relationships. These changes can be summarized as the process of reconciliation. The different levels of reconciliation are in this thesis described as emotional-, motivational-, and structural reconciliation. I argue that the reconciliation process is facilitated by means of a recategorization of social identities. According to the Common ingroup identity Model, a shared identity will increase positive intergroup dynamics and reduce hostility and antagonism. This study has sought to find evidence for the suggested hypotheses through a structured focused comparison on the post-conflict countries, Rwanda and Burundi. The theorized relationship has found some support, as the post-conflict reconciliation processes of the case-studies showed the expected variation, and for one hypothesis the expected mechanism. However, the findings show that social identity recategorization on its own cannot account for all the variation in outcomes, and another possible mechanism has been detected. This warrants future research into the topic.

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin<br>In this dissertation, I problematize 'victim's justice' in post-genocide Rwanda. I argue that the kind of justice that was meted out in post-genocide Rwanda, namely victors' justice and complementary to it – victims’ justice, does not allow for the political reform required to break the cycle of violence in Rwanda. In the aftermath of the 1994-Rwandan Genocide, both state and society were faced with a moral and political dilemma, because the popular agency or mass participation of perpetrators derived from the Hutu majority, who targeted the Tutsi minority, with intent to annihilate them. There were massacres of both Hutus and Tutsis, but Hutus were targeted as individuals, whereas Tutsis were targeted as a group. It is the specific ‘intent to annihilate’ Tutsis as group, that makes this a Genocide against Tutsis. I draw and develop arguments made by Mahmood Mamdani, elaborating on the specific question of ‘victims justice’ for political reform in Rwanda. Both kinds of justice were outcomes of the logic of the Nuremburg Trials. Since its inception, the legacy of the Nuremburg Trial is demonstrated in how it was idealized at the end of the Cold-War by international law and human rights regime. In essence, the historical and political context of the Nuremburg trial has been removed, as it has been produced into a template- the 'Nuremburg-styled criminal trial'. 'Criminal justice' has come to define how we think of justice after mass violence, as the most morally acceptable form of justice for the victims, and the most politically viable response for constituting a 'new political order' after mass violence. This dissertation addresses the argument made, that victors' justice and victims' justice in Rwanda, has constituted two categories, which collectivise Tutsis as victims and Hutus as perpetrators. In the context of a genocide, where the perpetrators are derived from the Hutu majority and the victims from the Tutsi minority, this present both a moral and political dilemma for Rwanda’s state-building and national reconciliation project. Criminal justice also frames mass violence as being criminal, rather than addressing it as political violence. This has troubling consequences for intervening into the cycle of violence in Rwanda. The 'cycle of violence' in Rwanda, refers to the continuation of political violence, in which 'every round of perpetrators has justified the use of violence as the only effective guarantee against being victimised yet again. Thus, intervention into the cycle of violence would mean thinking out of the logic of victimhood and pursuing an alternative kind of justice. To think of the genocide as political violence, redirects the attention to the issues that made the genocide possible. I establish the importance and necessity of critically interrogating 'victims justice' in Rwanda, by placing the 1994-Genocide in its historical and political context, with a particular focus on the legacy of colonialism. The post-colonial regimes in Rwanda, inherited the colonial institutions of rule; and the politicisation of Hutu and Tutsi into racial categories, which have shaped particular meanings for power, justice and citizenship. I demonstrate in this dissertation that critical issues found in post-genocide Rwanda today, are symptomatic of the inherited colonial legacy. I address the prevailing political crisis through an analysis on post-genocide governance; national reconciliation; the 'land question'; and the Great Lakes refugee crisis. Furthermore, I found that it was critically important for my research question, to also adopt a regional perspective, because Rwanda lies at the epicentre of the Great Lakes regional crisis. This dissertation concludes with returning to the question of political reform, and breaking the 'cycle of violence'. My suggestion is that we need to think of Mamdani's concept of survivor's justice, rather than victims' justice or victors' justice, which assist in confronting the needs of political reform that address colonial legacies.

Thesis (MTech (Tourism and Hospitality Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010<br>Over the past years, protected areas have been affected by illegal activities, which are perpetrated by humans and continuations of these activities do not only harm wildlife, but also the welfare of current, as well as, future generations. Conservation of wildlife cannot be achieved if local community support is not ensured. This study aims to find whether or not improved or positive relationships between protected area and people can effect long-term conservation of wildlife. The main objectives of the study were to investigate conservation attitudes of the Rwandan community that lives adjacent to the Akagera National Park. A quantitative survey-based study, which used a self-administered structured and closeended questionnaire, was undertaken within a period of a month and a half to obtain information about conservation attitudes within the local community. In addition, qualitative data was gathered through in-person unstructured interviews with key informants including local authorities and park officials in order to verify and enrich quantitative data, which was obtained from the survey. Collected data was analysed with use of the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) for descriptive statistics in the form of tables and charts. In addition, statistical tests, using chi-square values at the 0.05 level of significance, were conducted to determine which factors influence the local community’s conservation attitudes. The study revealed that the local community support Akagera National Park’s conservation although they participate in illegal activities within the park. Poaching and livestock grazing are the main illegal activities that take place at Akagera National Park. The study also found that people’s awareness of wildlife importance does not necessarily translate into positive attitudes towards conservation. Problems caused by wildlife, combined with the absence of economic opportunities from the protected areas, are strong influencing factors regarding the local community’s conservation attitudes. The findings of this study suggest that the local community’s support for conservation can only be achieved if problems that are caused by wildlife are effectively addressed and solved and people are provided with more economic opportunities, which would allow them to improve their welfare.

<p> Kazakhstan's higher education system is based on the Soviet governance structure, limited academic freedom and no autonomy from the state. In such a system faculties are contract employees delivering predesigned courses with no incentive to bring new ideas and methods. But employers and the general public are concerned with the mismatch between market demand and curricula of universities. Qualitative research based on two case studies collected evidence on the opportunities for faculty to influence academic affairs of the two most prominent research universities in Kazakhstan. The study gave a detailed picture of state controls, hierarchical structures and limited role of faculty at the higher education institutions under investigation. The national universities of Kazakhstan were also compared with the University of West Florida, a public research university of similar size which is based on academic freedom, shared governance and faculty authority over academic matters. Conceptual framework for the analysis is based on the theory that university governance differs from other organizations in its involvement of faculty in decision making on academic affairs. The power is shared with faculty because of their recognized knowledge and authority in teaching and research in their particular professional fields. </p><p> The study identified that the national universities in Kazakhstan are established regulated and run like government organizations with a hierarchical structure. The existing centralized and stricter controlled environment results in frustrated and demotivated faculty who are not able to produce good quality teaching and research. Universities are required to produce similar academic programs and courses and offer a limited number of majors approved by the inter-ministerial committee. Structures of degree programs are set according to State Standards and contain certain share of mandatory courses which are provided by the Ministry. The universities are managed by the rectors who have wide powers especially in hiring and promotion of faculty as well as on other academic matters. </p><p> The research identified a number of shortcomings and mismatches with international theory and international best practice. If national universities are to develop they have to be allowed to compete and have freedom to innovate. The national universities need the governing boards to be introduced. Increasing faculty participation will be central to promoting key values of higher education such as academic freedom, autonomy and transparency. Empowering faculty will contribute to their greater responsibility and engagement in developing higher education institutions and their core functions of teaching, research and community service.</p>