REPUBLIC OF RWANDA
Higher Education Council (HEC)
P.O. BOX 6311, Kigali – RWANDA
Title: Consultancy to develop a strategy of enhancing academic programmes delivery through
Open Distance and eLearning in all Tertiary Education Institutions in Rwanda.
Reference No: 35/S/2014-2015-HEC
1. CONTRACTING AUTHORITY
Higher Education Council (HEC)
The Higher Education Council (HEC) a semi-autonomous institution established by Law N0 72/03
of 10/09/20131. HEC is responsible for securing coherent provision of quality higher education in
Rwanda in line with Government policies and priorities. It is also responsible for strategic planning
for the higher education sector as a whole and securing that institutions are developing and
implementing strategic plans in line with national goals and objectives.
HEC is in the process of putting in place mechanisms of enhancing academic programmes delivery
through Open Distance and eLearning (ODeL) in Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) in Rwanda.
This is through evaluating the capacities and capabilities of TEIs in delivering a number of their
academic programmes through ODeL, putting in place an ODeL Policy and a strategic plan to
enhance the ODeL use in TEIs.
2. Background specific to the assignment
The Government of Rwanda through the seven year Government Programme has made ODeL one
of the key strategies aimed at increasing access to relevant quality education at a more affordable
cost. It is aspired that at least 50% of the academic programmes in TEIs will be delivered through
the use of ODeL. A study on developing the use of ODeL in the University of Rwanda was
conducted in 2013. A final report on the proposal to establish the College of Open and Distance
Learning in Rwanda: Operational Approach and Costs is available to inform the assignment of
developing a strategy of enhancing academic programmes delivery through Open Distance and
eLearning in all Tertiary Education Institutions in Rwanda. The report contains annextures that
should inform the consultant on the work already done.
Today, eight TEIs run some of their academic programmes through ODeL some of which is
technology based and others non-technology based distance learning. These are the University of
Rwanda (UR)-College of Education (CE), UR-College of Science and Technology (CS), URCollege of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS), Mount Kenya University (MKU), and five Schools of
Nursing and Midwifery and the Institute Polytechnic de Byumba. The University of Rwanda is in
the process of establishing an ODeL School/College which will in its initial phase have four
regional centers.
Among the TEIs, seven have eLearning program and only seven of them (UR-CE, MKU and five
Schools of Nursing and Midwifery) have students in their programmes. UR-CASS and UR1
This Law repealed the Law No 23/2006 of 28/04/2006 establishing National Council of Higher
Education.
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru
COSTEC do not currently have eLearning students. UR-CASS and five Schools of Nursing and
Midwifery use the MOODLE (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) platform.
UR-COSTEC has four different platforms, three teleconferencing rooms, two different Internet
Service Providers (ISP), which makes the program available and stable (during the downtime or
maintenance of other platforms. It means that only 21% of the TEIs deliver some of their academic
programmes through ODeL. Even in this case, only a handful of academic programmes are run
through ODeL.
The TEIs that have some of their academic programms run through ODeL use the following
platforms:
 MOODLE platform. The free software for eLearning, also known as eLearning Management
System, or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) was developed in PHP (Front End) and
MySQL (Back End), and it is platform independent.

Learning MIS which was built in-house by the College of Science and Technology (URCST) with applications developed in partnership with KOICA.

e-COURSE a platform used at UR-CST by a Chinese company called HUAWEI.

e-CLASSROOM: This is a teleconferencing application also donated by HUAWEI.

Learning Management Information System (LMIS) is the MIS used to post courses’
materials online.

Tele-education: this is a video conferencing system used in UR-CE in partnership with
Pana-Africa Networks.

African Virtual University (AVU): phase 2 to kick off soon under UR. The AVU
headquarter established in UR-CST.
Enhancing provision of academic programmes through ODeL has the following advantages.
 providing an opportunity to potential students who are unable to have the opportunity of
taking advantage of conventional mode of learning or having other commitments that
cannot allow them to attend to classes on a full time basis to organize their time to study
through ODeL.

Offering degree courses, diplomas and post graduate programs for the benefit of the
working population without them quitting their jobs for studies.

Serving as a source of continuing education.

Allowing students to pursue any degree, anytime, anywhere convenient to the learner. It
is flexible in terms of age, study center, time limit, and time for examinations. This can
be beneficial to run academic programmes in different regions without necessitating to
establish a campus in the area.

Having a cost-effective academic programs for students that may not afford an expensive
conventional academic programmes.
HEC has noted that the following challenges exist vis-à-vis ODeL use:
 Some academic staff do not consider eLearning as part of their workload.

MOODLE server is very slow and sometimes completely down which affects studies
and the servers need to be upgraded and increased depending on the number of student
intake

Schools of Nursing and Midwifery have teleconferencing equipment but health centers
and all hospitals do not which affects the learning.
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru

Some hospital do not give permission to students to attend the face-to-face sessions.

The online learning sometimes fails due to the downtime of MOODLE platform.
Additional UPS should be availed to prevent electricity interruption in the system.

In most cases, there are insufficient facilities (in many cases teachers use their own
laptops and students have substandard laptops).

Some TEIs have a small amount of internet bandwidth and this affects their
teleconferencing usage.

Some TEIs do not have power generators and this can affect online studies when grid
power is unavailable.

Interactive CDs facility is still lacking in all eLearning programs yet it is very important
to some locations where the internet is not available.

Some academic staff lack training in preparation of digital content and in student
support.

Sometimes there is intermittent virtual classes due irregularity of delivery through
teleconferencing technologies.
It is against this background that HEC seeks to engage a consultant to establish the level of
readiness of TEIs to introduce or enhance the academic programmes delivery through ODeL, assess
the strengths and weakness of TEIs vis-à-vis ODeL usage, and to develop a strategic plan and
ODeL Policy.
3. Purpose of the Consultancy
The purpose of this consultancy is to design a strategic plan for enhancing the academic
programmes provision though ODeL in all TEIs with an aim of increasing access to relevant quality
tertiary education that is more affordable to students whereby the target is to have at least 50% of
academic programmes run under ODeL by 2017. Also, the consultant will design an ODeL Policy
guide TEIs in running some of their academic programmes through ODeL.
4
Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of the consultancy are:
a) Find out the strengths, weaknesses, and technician & administrative challenges of academic
programmes delivery through ODeL in all TEIs.
b) Find the level of preparedness of TEIs for delivering some of their academic programmes
through ODeL.
c) Find out which academic programmes can in a viable manner be delivered through ODeL in
all TEIs.
d) Find out the staffing, technical (including e-learning platform), physical infrastructure and
other requirements of establishing an ODeL mode of academic programmes delivery in all
TEIs.
e) Explore the challenges in digital content development in TEIs and strategies to overcome the
challenges.
f) Find out the budget requirements for ensuring all that TEIs are able to deliver some of their
academic programmes through ODeL. For each TEI, after finding out the budget
requirement to introduce academic programmes through ODeL or enhance them where they
already exist, the Consultant will find out from the TEI the possibility of providing for the
required budget.
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru
g) Design a Strategic Plan that provides viable strategies to enhance academic programmes
delivery through ODeL, with an aim of achieving the 50% target of academic programmes
of TEIs to be run through ODeL by 2017. This should include the indicative budget
involved.
h) Design a Policy to govern ODeL usage in TEIs in Rwanda. This should include an
implementation plan.
5
Main activities (scope of services)
Duties include:
 Exploring the rationale of delivery of academic programmes through ODeL in Rwanda.

Examining the envisaged impact of running some academic programmes through ODeL in
TEIs. This will reflect on access, relevance and quality of tertiary education.

Identifying strengths, weaknesses, and technician & administrative challenges of academic
programmes delivery through ODeL in all TEIs,

Establishing the level of preparedness of TEIs for delivering some of their academic
programmes through ODeL.

Examining both external and internal factors which may influence, facilitate or hinder
delivery of academic prgrammes in TEIs. This includes staffing, technical (including elearning platform), physical infrastructure issues.

Evaluate the challenges in digital content development in TEIs and strategies to overcome
the challenges.

Establish financial resources needed to enable the running of some of academic programmes
through ODeL. A five year budget plan should be established as a way of implementing the
identified strategies.

Develop a Strategic Plan that provides viable strategies to enhance academic programmes
delivery through ODeL, with an aim of achieving the 50% target of academic programmes
of TEIs to be run through ODeL by 2017. This should include the indicative budget
involved.

Develop a Policy to govern ODeL usage in TEIs in Rwanda. This should include an
implementation plan.
In order to realise the above, the Consultant is required to among other things:
a) Conducting the state of readiness of TEIs in running some of their academic programmes
through ODeL, which exact programmes, and the time period they can start.
b) For the eight TEIs that already have some of the academic programmes run through ODeL,
find out how the practice can be enhanced to increase the number of academic programmes
and students under the ODeL mode of delivery.
c) Describe a platform that can be used which caters for:
o Creating and uploading online course materials (text, audio, and video)
o Opening forums
o Putting students into small groups
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru
o Creating and uploading online tests
o Chatting sessions
o Monitoring students’ attendance
o Monitor students’ participation
o Enabling students to follow lessons
o Enabling students to upload their assignments and test and enabling students chat
sessions
o Enabling students to do tests and other forms of assessments
o User manual.
o Infrastructure necessary to enable ODeL
o Monitor students’ attendance; and
o Monitor students’ participation.
d) After evaluating the necessity, the consultant should advice on how to enhance partnership
with national, regional, and international ICT training centers like:
o Microsoft;
o Cisco;
o IBM;
o Oracle;
o Prometric (online testing centers) and
o Pearson Vue (online testing centers).
o Others (the Consultant to find out other possible partnerships)
e) Develop a strategic plan including:
o Rationale for adopting the usage of ODeL in TEIs
o Mission, vision, and strategic goals
o Methodology used in compiling the strategic plan
o Current practices of usage of ODeL in TEIs
o Strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in using ODeL as a mode of
delivery of academic programmes
o Key challenges
o Strategic framework for enhancing ODeL usage in TEIs including the strategic goals
envisaged, priorities, outcomes, strategies achieving outcomes
o Implementation of the strategic plan (the interventions, roles and responsibilities of
stakeholders), coordination issues, risk analysis and mitigation strategies)
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru
o Monitoring and evaluation (indicators, evaluation process)
o Cost and financing of the plan (the case for public TEIs, and case for Private TEIs) in
terms of introducing/scaling up/enhancing ODeL usage in delivery of academic
programmes.
f) Design an ODeL Policy to include
o The characteristics of academic programmes and modules.
o Admission, registration and advanced standing
o Number of students per academic staff
o Assessment
o Undergraduate final projects at honours level and masters dissertations, and PhD
thesis
o The conduct of examinations
o Cheating
o Examination boards
o Progression between levels
o Mitigating circumstances for a student who will be unable to sit for exams in regular
times.
o Awards
o Rights and obligations of academic staff
o Rights and obligations of students
o Facilities required for e-learning, and for a blended approach.
o Quality assurance systems and role of Management of TEIs, Faculty, Administrative
Staff, and Students.
o practices to ensure quality and diversity
o Guidelines on academic regulations
o Generic learning outcomes by level
o Requirements for awards, distinctions and classifications
o Guidelines on learning, teaching and assessment
o The assessment strategy
o The Academic and Support Staff Strategy
o The Learning Environment Strategy
o typical module materials, module arrangements and what is expected of the students
o Access to career counselling enjoyed by other students that are in the conventional
learning environment.
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru
o Accessing students services like student ID, socialisation, and extracurricular
activities.
o Students can have both supervised and non-supervised tests.
o Calculating workload for the online teacher;
o Measures to protect against possible student reputation/employers 'negative
perception);
o Mode of examination and their supervision: final exams, partial exams, assignments
and other continuous assessment tests.
6
Project management
The Consultant will report to the Director General of HEC
7
Methodology and work plan
The methodology for this consultancy will include visiting each TEI to establish the status of
academic programmes delivery through ODel, establishing technical and other requirements for an
effective academic programme delivery through ODeL, talking to different stakeholders of tertiary
education sector to establish their views and aspirations about ODeL, using various policies and
regulations governing tertiary education/higher education and ensuring that adequate
data/information is collected to enable the Consultant to develop a strategic plan and policy for
enhancing academic programmes delivery through ODeL. This will include:
(a)
to prepare an inception report, detailing the scope of work, methodology and work plan
required to achieve the consultancy’s expected results, specific objectives and expected
outputs. The aim is to show how far the task to undertake is understood before proceeding
with the consultancy work.
(b)
To design a data collection tool. This will be used to collect data from TEIs.
(c)
to arrange for a wide series of consultations with the education sector stakeholders that
include HEC, WDA, TEIs, and representatives from both public and private schools, higher
education and training institutions in Rwanda, representatives from students associations.
(d)
to use various method of data collection that include focus group discussions and interviews
to know the expectations of the stakeholders.
(e)
to develop timeline with specific activities for undertaking the consultancy.
8
The expected results
The final report of the consultancy will address the following:
(a) Provide a description of the concept of ODeL which should include the history and current
international trends of use of ODeL in TEIs, requirements (technical facilities and equipments,
staffing, content, and systems), and challenges of academic programmes delivery via ODeL and
the likely impact on quality and relevance of tertiary education.
(b) Document the status of preparedness of TEI to deliver academic programmes through ODeL
including their strengths, weaknesses and challenges of the existing academic programmes run
through ODeL and how the weaknesses and challenges can be overcome.
(c) Compile a draft strategic plan that enables to achievement of the purpose and objectives of this
consultancy assignment.
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru
(d) Compile a draft policy to govern ODeL and to ensure the enhancement of academic programme
delivery through ODeL aiming at increasing access to quality and relevant tertiary education
that is more affordable to students.
9
Expected outputs/Milestones
The consultant is expected to:
(a) Discuss the terms of reference with HEC management before embarking on the tasks so as
to make sure that both client and consultant agree on the tasks to be accomplished, the
duration and the milestones.
(b) Present an inception report after 7 days of signing the contract detailing how the work will
proceed. This should include the tools to use in data collection.
(c) Organize for consultation workshops with stakeholders.
(d) Conducting focus group discussions and interviews.
(e) Collect the data using the validated scientific tool.
(f) Synthesis data collected and writing the report clearly giving the rationale of academic
programmes delivery through ODeL, requirements to enhance the ODeL systems of
academic programmes delivery, strategic plan and policy for ODeL usage in all TEIs.
(g) Presentation of the report, and draft Strategic Plan and Policy to HEC Management.
(h) Present the report and draft Strategic Plan and Policy to a validation workshop which will be
organized by the consultant.
(i) Submit to HEC management the final report and draft Strategic Plan and Policy after
including in all recommendations from the validation workshop.
10 Reports and time schedule
The consultant is expected to provide:
(a) Inception report; one week after the signing of the contract. The presentation will be made to the
HEC Management.
(b) interim progress report after half the period of the consultancy so as to get comments from the
Directorate of Policy, Research, and Planning of HEC and the Deputy Director General in
charge of ODeL in REB/MINEDUC.
(c) first status report after collecting all data so as to get comments from the Directorate of Policy,
Research, and Planning of HEC and the Deputy Director General in charge of ODeL in
REB/MINEDUC.
(d) second status report after making analysis of the data so as to get comments from the Directorate
of Policy, Research, and Planning of HEC and the Deputy Director General in charge of ODeL
in REB/MINEDUC.
(e) draft status the report on the use of ODeL in TEIs, strategic plan, and policy after including the
recommendations so as to get comments from HEC Management.
(f) Presentation of the draft report, Strategic Plan, and Policy to stakeholders for validation.
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru
(g) final report, Strategic Plan, and Policy after incorporating all recommendations from the
validation workshop.
11 Required Profile to Undertake the Consultancy
The consultant shall demonstrate a very good knowledge of tertiary education in general and higher
education in Rwanda in particular, having a minimum five years working experience in higher
education and preferably having a PhD. Also, the consultant or members of his/her team is (are)
expected to provide evidence for experience in designing a process of learning using ODeL
methodology, planning education programmes and content delivery through ODeL, and designing
of a computerised student learning/management systems or similar assignments.
The consultancy requires firms/institutions registered to operate in Rwanda, and possessing working
experience in the area of higher education, policy, strategic management, and ODeL. Preference
will be given to firms/ Institutions with proven relevant experience in undertaking a task of similar
magnitude, and shall preferably, among others have, the following expertise and
qualifications/experience;
(a) A team leader to provide leadership to the consultancy with at least a Doctoral degree and
methods of evaluating quality of higher education and in particular development of ODeL
systems as a mode of academic programmes delivery. The Consultant shall have an experience
of at least five (5) years in the area of higher education plus evidenced knowledge of
development of ODeL systems in a tertiary education sector. The team leader must have:
 proven experience in higher education.

In-depth and proven knowledge of assessment of ODeL.
(b) The consultancy must be supported by a team of at least two experts;
 One with a relevant Masters degree in IT/Computer Science, or IT related disciplines
with proven experience in the area higher education policy development.

Another with a relevant Masters degree with proven experience in the area of higher
education institutional audit.

The consultancy team will also be required to demonstrate:
i. Excellent research, writing and presentation skills.
ii. Fluency in English is a must.
iii. Strong computer skills and analytical skills with ability to write and review
technical reports.
iv. Familiarity with the education system in Rwanda and the region.

Team composition and task assignments including the list of professional staff
(indicating their education levels, key qualifications, experience, and time schedule on
the assignment).
12 Timeframe for consultancy
The consultant will be required to undertake the consultancy within 60 calendar days to produce the
required outputs outlined above.
13 Coordination
The consultant will report to HEC. The consultant is at liberty to get support from HEC in
identifying and contacting stakeholders in this consultancy. HEC will provide:
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru



Prior studies conducted by HEC and MINEDUC in the field of ODeL in higher
education.
Laws, Regulations, and Policies governing higher education.
Statistics on higher education in Rwanda.

Support the consultant in contacting stakeholders.

Personnel to make a follow-up of the work the consultant is doing.

Photocopying and printing services for documents needed in this consultancy work.
9. EXPRESSION OF INTEREST EVALUATION
An evaluation committee will evaluate Expressions of Interest based on following criteria
(including administrative documents):
 Experience of the firm in conducting similar assignments during the last five years (proven by
certificates of good completion).
 Staff experience in conducting similar assignments during the last 4 years (proven by their
signed CVs).
 Firm’s methodology and work plan to carry out the activity in the duration provided for this
assignment.
 Actual Financial capacity and stability (proven by audited financial statements)
 Expression of Interest letter indicating full address of the firm; General presentation of the
firm including complete address, Country of origin, name and background of the firm (firm
must submit sufficient information on its history to help with the review of the EOI), owner of
the firm and years of experience etc.
 Trading license or other proof of firm registration as a legally recognized business entity in
his country of origin;
 For the local firms, proofs of registration with Rwanda Social Security Board and Rwanda
Revenue Authority (VAT certificate and tax clearance still valid);
 Interested Firms should provide the necessary documents that will attest that they are qualified
to perform the services (i.e. brochures, description of similar assignments undertaken, etc.)
14 Commencement date and period of implementation
The intended commencement date will be from the date of signature of the contract.
15 Submission of applications
Foreign registered firms willing to carry out this assignment can only do so under those conditions
such as time for preparing proposals, taxes, currencies and methods of payment.
The Expression of Interests must be submitted either by email or by hand (in a sealed envelope) to
the following address not later than 14/11/2014 at 10:00 am local time:
Higher Education Council (HEC), Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) Building, Ground floor to
Procurement Office or electronically at info@hec.gov.rw
All expressions of interest submitted in hard copies must be in triplicate.
Any additional information about this Request of Expression of Interest, if required, may be
obtained from the e-mails: obatamuriza@hec.gov.rw
and fmugisha@hec.gov.rw
abaguma@hec.gov.rw
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru
From 07.00 a.m. to 17.00 pm local time.
Done at Kigali, 29th October 2014
Dr. Innocent S. MUGISHA
Executive Director
Website: www.hec.gov.rw
Email: info@hec.gov.rw
Location: MINEDUC Building, Kacyiru