Kigali — Rwanda Tourism University College (RTUC) will in January 2009 start offering Air Travel and other related courses. According to RTUC Rector, Callixte Kabera, the courses were previously not available in Rwanda.

He revealed this on Wednesday during the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Air Travel and Related Studies Centre (ATRSC) based in Kenya.

"Effective January, we shall start offering air travel courses and this is going to help improve and boost tourism in the country," Kabera said.

The cooperation between the two institutions aims at boosting Rwanda and Kenya's development through teaching, research, innovations, technological development and sharing resources in the areas of their respective specialised fields.

"The only way to turn our dream into reality is to partner with more experienced institutions so as to provide our graduates with the necessary skills that will make them more creative, more innovative and more employable," Kabera stated.

He explained that the reason they are partnering with various Universities is because RTUC wants to ensure quality by benchmarking its programmes on regional and international standards.

"This partnership is very important to us because ATRSC has a long experience offering programmes in travel, tourism and hospitality management and as a young University, we really shall gain from this collaboration," he said.

He also said that students who would have wished to further their International air travel programmes in Kenya can now study at RTUC and thus reduce costs in terms of tuition and related expenses.

The Managing Director of ATRSC, Charles Gakuu, said that in the early eighties, Kenya was reaping from tourism like Rwanda is doing today.

"Inadequate facilities and infrastructure lead to client dissatisfaction calling for the need to have well trained and skilled personnel in the industry," he said, adding, "This signing marks a milestone in the history of our two countries and is the best news for the Rwanda airline, travel agency and hospitality industry to date".

This is the second time in less than one month that RTUC is partnering with a sister University from Kenya. The first signed towards the end of October was with Mt Kenya University to access or share programs that are not taught by either University.