Exploring effective strategies to revamp the student enrolments in private tertiary institutions: A case of Rwanda

Abstract

Different reports by the Ministry of Education in Rwanda have confirmed a decrease in student enrolments in Rwandan private universities since 2014, such that there is a need for effective strategies to address this issue. This study was undertaken to explore effective strategies to revamp student enrolments in six selected private tertiary institutions in Rwanda. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and used a sample of 382 participants out of 13914 subjects. The study employed a structured questionnaire for data collection. The data was
analysed by means of percentages, frequencies, means and standard deviation. The findings revealed that the effective institution-based strategies to improve student enrolments in private universities in Rwanda are notably: motivate new applicants by helping the alumni to get jobs, reduce the costs and bring flexibility in fee payment, offer more flexible and marketable programs, improve quality in teaching and provide adequate instructional facilities. It was also found that the effective Government-based strategies are notably: promote graduate employability in Rwanda, provide study loan to private university students, promote more technical programmes than general ones, provide financial support to private universities by the Rwandan government to build their capacity. The study recommended that there should be partnership between the managers of private tertiary institutions and the government of Rwanda in putting in place the
suggested effective strategies to revamp the student enrolments of the institutions.

Keywords: effective strategies, private tertiary institutions, revamp, student enrolments, Rwanda