{"id":3721,"date":"2026-09-16T08:39:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=3721"},"modified":"2026-09-16T08:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:39:22","slug":"new-ai-lab-expands-research-opportunities-at-university-of-rwanda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/16\/new-ai-lab-expands-research-opportunities-at-university-of-rwanda\/politics\/national\/","title":{"rendered":"New AI lab expands research opportunities at University of Rwanda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"714\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/iyi_laboratwari_irimo_mudasobwa_zifite_ubushobozi_bwo_gukorerwaho_ibijyanye_na_ai-04515.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3722\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/iyi_laboratwari_irimo_mudasobwa_zifite_ubushobozi_bwo_gukorerwaho_ibijyanye_na_ai-04515.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/iyi_laboratwari_irimo_mudasobwa_zifite_ubushobozi_bwo_gukorerwaho_ibijyanye_na_ai-04515-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/iyi_laboratwari_irimo_mudasobwa_zifite_ubushobozi_bwo_gukorerwaho_ibijyanye_na_ai-04515-768x548.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The University of Rwanda has received a Rwf30 million laboratory equipped with computers designed to support artificial intelligence research and practical projects by students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The laboratory, located at the university\u2019s College of Science and Technology (UR-CST) in Kigali, was established through the TELLS project, which supports higher education, research and technology-based learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has 10 computers, including eight with one-terabyte hard drives and two larger machines with two-terabyte storage capacity. The two also have graphics processing units (GPUs), which provide the computing power needed for AI-related work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mathias Nduwingoma, who heads TELLS at the University of Rwanda, said the facility would give students access to equipment needed to develop and test AI projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAI applications require a lot of space and computing capacity because they perform many tasks at the same time,\u201d Nduwingoma said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the laboratory would be used by PhD students and engineering students, particularly those studying AI, from the new academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"714\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-15_at_12.19_16_4_-9dbb8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3723\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-15_at_12.19_16_4_-9dbb8.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-15_at_12.19_16_4_-9dbb8-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/whatsapp_image_2026-09-15_at_12.19_16_4_-9dbb8-768x548.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The facility is expected to give students more opportunity to gain practical experience with AI and develop projects that could be applied beyond the university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TELLS is a partnership between the University of Rwanda, Makerere University in Uganda, Jimma University in Ethiopia and the University of Agder in Norway. It has been running from 2021 to 2026 with a budget of about Rwf797 million and is due to end in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At UR, the project has also supported 10 students with scholarships, including two PhD students and eight postgraduate students in educational technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It helped establish a postgraduate programme in educational technology, which now has 41 students, and supported curriculum revisions in computer science education. The project also plans to train 60 secondary-school teachers in the use of technology in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prof. Florien Nsanganwimana, director-general of UR\u2019s College of Education, said the project had helped the college strengthen its capacity to respond to technological changes, including the growing use of AI in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs a university, particularly in education, this project has helped us build capacity and confidence that there are things we can do together with others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ibitabiriye_inama_ya_gatanu_ku_mushinga_tells_baturuka_mu_bihugu_bine-8cd05.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3724\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ibitabiriye_inama_ya_gatanu_ku_mushinga_tells_baturuka_mu_bihugu_bine-8cd05.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ibitabiriye_inama_ya_gatanu_ku_mushinga_tells_baturuka_mu_bihugu_bine-8cd05-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ibitabiriye_inama_ya_gatanu_ku_mushinga_tells_baturuka_mu_bihugu_bine-8cd05-767x511.jpg 767w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Rwanda has received a Rwf30 million laboratory equipped with computers designed to support artificial intelligence research and practical projects by students. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,34,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current_affairs","category-national","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3725,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3721\/revisions\/3725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}