Kigali is set to host a high level summit of academic leaders organized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The three-day Africa Regional Higher Education Summit will start on Tuesday October 21 bringing together university leaders mainly from American institutions and their African counterparts.
According to Prof. Silas Lwakabamba, the Rector of the National University of Rwanda, among the summit’s organizers, the meeting will be a follow up of a similar summit for global development held last April hosted by the US State Department.
“The major aim of this summit is to strengthen Africa’s human and institutional capacity and innovations for global competitiveness and sustainable growth,” said Lwakabamba on phone over the weekend.
He said that the summit will create a platform of exchange of knowledge and ideas to improve the quality of education on the African continent.
“Over 200 people have confirmed attendance and among these are various stakeholders in higher learning education like the Aga Khan Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Microsoft,” he explained.
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Ismailimail 
Aga Khan Sees a Bright Future for Eastern Africa
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Kampala, Uganda, 24 August 2007 – His Highness the Aga Khan said Africa’s enormous potential made him optimistic about the continent’s future. “My optimism grows out of several observations: beginning with the continuing rich potential of Africa’s natural resources – including the remarkable talents and the resilient spirit of its peoples.”
The spiritual leader of the Ismaili community made the remarks during a banquet he hosted in honour of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni. Uganda was the last leg of the Aga Khan’s 12-day tour of East Africa as part of his Golden Jubilee visits.
“This is a special evening for me – the closing moments of the first of my Golden Jubilee visits to places which have had particular meaning for the Ismaili Community, for the institutions of the Aga Khan Development Network, and for me, personally, over the past half century,” he said.
The Ismaili leader praised Uganda’s and Africa’s new spirit of pluralism and said that the region deserved excellence in development.
“If one key to unlocking the potential of Uganda, and all of Africa, is a spirit of pluralism, then another key should be a commitment to excellence. There was a time, earlier in my Imamat, when mediocrity was considered tolerable here because it was good enough for Africa, he said.
The Ismaili leader urged the African nations to see diversity and difference as a source of potential strength in the increasingly globalised world. He noted that adherence to normal world-class standards was once seen as unrealistic for Africa. But he said that view was no longer sustainable.
“But in the rapidly globalizing world of the 21st century, the progress of every country and continent will depend on its ability to meet universal standards. To settle for less is an increasingly dangerous option,” he said.
AKDN Press Release
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