The tertiary education level includes universities, polytechnics, and other higher learning institutions, where students can pursue their studies in a range of academic directions or opt to enter an array of technical or vocational fields. Undergraduate degrees currently require four years to complete.

In Rwanda, short-cycle tertiary education is estimated at 0.8%, Bachelor or equivalent at 2.8%, Master’s or equivalent at 0.4%, and Doctoral or equivalent at 0.1%.

TABLE: Distribution (number and percentage) of the resident population aged 15 years and above by highest level of education attained, sex and area of residence (Rwanda)

Area of residence and Level of education

Percentage

Both sexes

Male

Female

Total

100

100

100

No primary schooling

16.3

13.5

18.8

Some primary

33.9

35.7

32.2

Completed Primary

30.1

30.0

30.1

Lower secondary

7.6

7.4

7.8

Upper secondary

8.0

8.4

7.7

short cycle tertiary

0.8

1.0

0.7

Bachelor or equivalent

2.8

3.2

2.4

Masters or equivalent

0.4

0.5

0.3

Doctoral or equivalent

0.1

0.1

0.0

Not stated

0.1

0.1

0.0

Source: Fifth Population and Housing Census - 2022

The proportion of the population aged 16-30 years who attended tertiary education in Rwanda was 2.9% in EICV7. Access to higher learning education remained more prevalent in the urban population (5.4%) than rural (1.6%).