INILAK 15 Years of developing competitive professionals for the job market

Having felt the shortage the country suffered in skilled personnel, since most of them had succumbed to the 1994 genocide, Adventist parents through the Federation of Adventist Parents’ Associations for the Development of Education in Rwanda (FAPADER) established the Independent Institute of Lay Adventists of Kigali, a foremost contributor to skills gap bridging.

With a vision to contribute to the national development by providing highly educated citizens capable of handling developmental challenges, with much emphasis on quality education both on moral and intellectual basis, able to develop the spirit of know-how, creativity and performance in accordance with the vision 2020, INILAK opened its doors in the year 1997.

According to the institution’s Rector Dr. Ngamije Jean, their contribution into the skills labour market is evident in the number of graduates they have passed out since 2009.

We have well baked more than four thousand professionals and served them on the job market and the response we have is overwhelming. Employers wants to be served with more of them, says the Rector adding, We have started a track system where we track all our former students with the aim of knowing whether they have been absorbed into the job market. This helps us know the way forward in course offering. He further adds saying that the institution is not after only graduating students, but offering courses that are going to benefit them at completion.

After the survey, we always go back to the drawing board, adds the Rector. As he explains, they have put up a career counseling centre where students go through before enrolling to receive career guidance. ìIn most cases, students make wrong choices of courses, only to realize it two to three semesters into their courses. To avoid this time and money wastage, we take them through career guidance and help them choose courses that best suit their qualifications and interest, notes Ngamije. With the school’s lecturers drawn from diverse regions, the Rector notes that their students get exposed to different situations in different countries through tales from them, Congo, India, Burundi and Nigeria We have qualified and experienced lecturers from Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Congo, India, Burundi and Nigeria that thoroughly prepare our students, equipping them with the best education.

As the management, we have put everything at their reach to make their work easier, Ngamije explains. To serve the interests of the population outside the capital, the school opened an offshoot located in Nyanza District, Southern Province in 2010. In January 2011, INILAK also opened classes in Rwamagana to save students who used to commute daily to Kigali of their burden. As the Rector explains, this is just part of their expansion strategy that targets a countrywide coverage. We have created a conducive learning environment for our students to excel. Our library is full and up to scale, our computer labs are well equipped plus the auditoriums are specious enough to accommodate them. We believe that living and learning are not two separate activities. They are parts of a coherent whole.

INILAK is committed to creating a student-focused, holistic, and diverse educational environment intended to educate the whole person: mind, body, and spirit, says Ngamije. To achieve its mission, INILAK’s Management in 2008, set up the Directorate of Academic Quality Assurance and the Academic Quality Assurance Committee (AQAC). Through them, quality is ensured in the provision of education to the students. In July 2012, INILAK entered partnership with Xinjiang Institute of Geography and Ecology (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The partnership will allow the introduction of a Masterís programme in Environmental Studies at INILAK and the setting up of a GIS and Remote Sensing Lab at INILAK. The cooperation between XIEG and INILAK envisaged the building of a Natural Resources and Environmental Research Center of excellence in East Africa based INILAK. Other Masters programmes are in the pipeline for the year 2013-2014, mainly the Masters programme in Land and Environmental Law, Masters Programme in International Criminal Law, Masters Prgramme in Information Technology and Masters Programme in Information Systems and Management.

Courses offered
1. Master of Business Administration with options in:

Finance
Accounting
Marketing
Entrepreneurship
Project Management
Human Resource Management

The Independent Institute of Lay Adventists of Kigali is delighted to introduce a Master of Business Administration (MBA) that meets international standards. The programme primarily maintains a managerial emphasis.

Modules

Semester I
Foundation of management and
organizational behavior
Managerial economics
Quantitative methods
Management accounting
(non-credit module)
Business communication
Business law in Rwanda

Semester II
Human resource management
Marketing management
Financial management
Applied operations research
Business research methods
Management information system

Semester III
Student does an intern/ mini project during vacation for 6 weeks.
Business policy and strategic management
Entrepreneurship and management of small businesses
Any 3 elective modules

Semester IV
A student will take any two elective courses in any group provided from the specialization area.
Registration for 2013 January intake for MBA programme that commences on 28th January 2013 at both our campuses is underway.

2. Faculty of Environmental studies

The idea of introducing a course in environmental studies was reached at after realizing that planning and management of social-cultural, economic and ecological activities has over the years contributed to environmental problems.
In response to this, INILAK opted to start the faculty to produce high and middle level environmental skilled people to address the challenges environmental conservation suffers.

Bachelorís Degree in Environmental Management with majors in:
Environmental Management and Conservation
Emergency and Disaster Management
Bachelorís Degree in Rural development

3. Faculty of Law

Bachelorís degree in law

4. Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management:

Bachelor of Sciences in Information Systems and Management
Bachelorís Degree in Cooperative Management and Accounting
Bachelorís Degree in Business Administration with majors in:
Accounting
Finance
Human Resource Management
Marketing

Bachelorís Degree in Cooperative Management and Accounting.
Certificate in cooperative management and accounting

Why a Bachelorís Degree in Cooperative management?

Different studies have revealed that contrary to their expectations, several African countries have failed to use cooperatives as means of uplifting the masses from poverty. This has been due to mismanagement and poor supervision of these cooperatives. Thus the need for undergraduate degrees in cooperatives management  and accounting stems from the fact that Rwanda has chosen cooperatives as a means of poverty alleviation  as expressed in the EDPRS, Vision 2012 and the subsequent cooperative policy.

INILAK is in tune with the government’s policies to train people who will be development catalists in the fight to curb poverty at all levels. It is in this framework that the department of Cooperative management and Accounting , and the Faculty of enviromental studies were introduced in 2011 and 12 respoectively.

The alumni club
While in primary school, fellow students nicknamed him the peacemaker. He always intervened in conflicts between classmates and called for peace. Little did he know the reflection of his peace making into his future career. He is currently a prosecutor in Rwanda. He doubles as a National Prosecutor and head of the Genocide Fugitive tracking Unit (GFTU).

At completion of his secondary school education, John Bosco Siboyintore made the first stride of his journey into his current career. He joined Murambi training school in Nyanza, an institution that trained judges and prosecutors, where he took a criminal investigation training course. He joined INILAK in the year 2002 for a bachelor’s degree in legal laws (LLB).

This is where he says life for him changed completely. INILAK is the only institution that offered the law faculty in English. All other institutions offered it in French. I wanted it in English.

We were the pioneers of the English option, explains Siboyintore.
Upon graduation, he emerged as the top student in his year and was awarded a grand distinction. His experience at the institution is something he describes as memorable. Without the institutionís support, I couldn’t have made it to this level. Our lecturers nurtured us well and gave us the best training that has now shaped us into competitive professionals out here in the job market, narrates Siboyintore.

While at the Institution, he explains that emerging the best was their sole goal. The lecturers instilled in us a sense of competitiveness where each of us in the law faculty sought to emerge the best. They encouraged us not to settle for anything less than the top. That kept us moving,î concludes Siboyintore. He is currently pursuing a Masters in Public International Law.

It is through his academic qualification and experience in the law sector that one afternoon while relaxing with his wife and two kids that a shockingí news knocked on his doorstep. He had been appointed National Prosecutor!

Nkurikiyinka Josiane joined INILAK in the year 2003, not as a student, but as a cashier. After two years of employment, he approached the academics office and she was admitted for a degree in management. She juggled her education with work as she needed to work so as to raise money both for her daily upkeep and to pay the school fee. Upon graduation in 2009, he was promoted from his job position to become the school accountant.

Talking of his schooling period, Josiane says it was hard for her mixing work and classes. ìI had pressure on me, both from the classroom and the office. I had to balance both. I could be offered extra consultation hours with my lecturers as they were very supportive. I always wanted to catch up with the other students for the time lost while at work. Evening classes were a good option but at times I could be over-worked, something that prompted me to work harder together with other students in my situation,î she explains.
After serving as the school accountant for two years, she was awarded a promotion to become the assistant to the Vice Rector, Administration and Finance, a position she is currently serving in. She has also enrolled for a Master in Business Administration (MBA) in the same institution.