Kent State University’s partnership with the African nation of Rwanda continues to blossom with the School of Fashion, the College of Aeronautics and Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences all working to add program partnerships in Rwanda.
Rwandan Minister of State for Education Claudette Irere is visiting the Kent Campus this week to meet with officials from the Office of Global Education, various colleges and Rwandan students currently studying at Kent State. Irere’s visit aims to deepen the African nation’s educational partnerships with Kent State, hoping to see the university eventually open a formal office there.
Fashion forward
On Jan. 22, Kent State Today was on hand when Irere and Executive Vice President and Provost Melody Tankersley, Ph.D., signed a letter of intent for Kent State to bring its fashion program to Rwanda.
Irere said that while Rwanda and Africa in general already excel in fashion design, there are areas of expertise that Kent State’s nationally renowned school can bring to help elevate the field in Africa, particularly in fashion merchandising.
Tankersley said the partnership with Rwanda has brought great enrichment to Kent State and its students.
“It’s quite an honor to be able to partner with the University of Rwanda and the Ministry of Education to come together to offer this fashion program,” Tankersley said. “Kent State is really proud of what we do in fashion design and merchandising and to be able to work with you and all the Rwandans in bringing this together is an honor few people get to experience.”
Irere thanked Kent State for its confidence in Rwanda, noting that the university could have partnered with any other country, and she was grateful they selected Rwanda. The minister also noted how the program would benefit not only Rwandans but students throughout Africa who would come to the Rwandan capital of Kigali for the proposed program.
Marcello Fantoni, Ph.D., Kent State’s vice president for global education, said Irere was spending several days touring various colleges at Kent State, including the College of Aeronautics and Engineering, where work is ongoing to bring Kent State’s aeronautics program to the University of Rwanda.
Soaring partnership
Christina Bloebaum, Ph.D., dean of the college, said details of the program are nearly complete; it will be a traditional two-plus-two program in which students would take courses in Rwanda for two years and then come to the Kent Campus to complete their degrees.
“The hope is it will be approved sometime in the spring,” she said, noting that it will likely formally begin during the 2026 Fall Semester.
Bloebaum said Rwandan students currently working on their doctorate degrees in aeronautics at Kent State are likely to return home to teach in the program.
Fantoni added that RwandAir, the flag carrier airline of Rwanda, also has reached out to Kent State for training of pilots and other airport management professionals.
A dual master’s degree program between Kent State’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and the University of Rwanda’s Centre for Conflict Management also is nearing fruition.
Rwandan Student Success
The first stop on Minister Irere’s visit was the Office of Global Education in Van Campen Hall, where all 28 Rwandan students at Kent State braved Wednesday morning’s frigid temperatures to have coffee and doughnuts with Irere.
A graduate of Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond, Oklahoma, Irere said she was pleased to see how the Rwandan students were creating a community at Kent State, just as they had in Oklahoma, where she earned her master’s degree in computer engineering.
Soon, Irere predicted, there would be 50 or 100 Rwandans studying at Kent State. She expressed her gratitude to Fantoni and the Office of Global Education for allowing the Rwandan students “to call Kent State home.”
She also emphasized the country’s desire for Kent State to open a physical location in Rwanda.
Kent State began working with the University of Rwanda and the Rwandan government in 2022 to create educational partnerships. The university also opened its base of operations for African recruitment in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. That same year, the first 12 Rwandan students came to Kent State to begin their studies.
Fantoni said the Rwandan students have been a pleasure to have at Kent State.
“I think you really make your country proud,” he said. “You are humble, you are here to honestly learn, and you have a heart, doing something that you can honestly share when you go back.”
Fantoni said the students are eager to return home to bring their knowledge back to Rwanda to help build up their country and make it a better place. Over the past three years, Fantoni said he has learned just how important the government of Rwanda believes that education is for the development of the country.
“I have been to many countries and in some places it is technology, at other places, it is industrialization, and in other places it is building roads. I think building people is really good,” Fantoni said. “And I am honored to represent Kent State in being part of this plan and you are a beautiful example that it’s a successful plan.”
Rwandan student population growing
The original 12 students have since been joined by 16 others, including Kundwa Sisi, one of the newest Rwandan students to begin her studies at Kent State.
Sisi, 19, a first-year political science major in the Honors College, met Fantoni when she was working as an intern for Arise Rwanda, a non-profit organization in Kigali, that works to transform the community, by lifting residents from extreme poverty through education, clean water sources, healthcare, economic development and pastoral care.
Sisi was present when about a dozen Kent State student-athletes visited Rwanda in January 2024 for a service trip and toured a new hospital under construction in the town of Boneza. One of her duties was to help serve as a guide for the group, which included Fantoni, and the pair began chatting about Kent State. Fantoni encouraged Kundwa to apply and she began her first year in the 2024 Fall Semester.
“It’s so diverse, that’s what I like about Kent State,” she said. “It’s a very engaging environment, I feel like you can learn so much here.”
Sisi hopes to one day work for the United Nations, representing Rwanda, working to give the underserved access to housing, education and health care.
“I want to be a voice for people,” she said.