Making the First Home-Trained Physiologists in Rwanda: An Experiential Narrative of Lessons Learned while Designing and Implementing the MSc Physiology Program

Before 2023, Rwanda did not have a Physiology training program. This study aimed to describe the approved curriculum of the program at the University of Rwanda (UR) and gather the perceptions of students and lecturers on the implementation of the first-ever physiology training in Rwanda. This experiential qualitative study adopted a narrative phenomenological approach to describe the retrospective events. The first objective was achieved by content analysis of the approved program documents, while objective 2 involved an informal survey as part of the University’s quality assurance policy. The questions and their responses were related to the students’ inspiration to study Physiology at the M.Sc. level, robustness of the curriculum content and its associated academic stress, teaching effectiveness by the lecturers, assessment strategies, comparison of the level of difficulty with other programs in the University, ability of the graduates to compete with others trained elsewhere, preparation for an academic research career, strengths of the program that should be sustained, and weaknesses of the program that should be abolished or adjusted. The UR leaders are encouraged to appraise those feedbacks and implement changes that could further strengthen the quality of the program. Other universities in Africa may also learn some lessons towards establishing their physiology program or improving their existing program.