Recruitment of Consultancy firm to develop Rwanda Polytechnic Master plan

Output 4: The quality and leadership of RP as institutions in the TVET sector is reinforced

Activity 4.2: A strategic masterplan for RP and its Colleges (infrastructure and training) is designed

Venue: Across the country (All the 8 RP Colleges and RP head office)

Date: From 01 October 2024 to 30 June 2025

Introduction

Rwanda Polytechnic (RP), established in 2017, is a public higher learning institution that offers Technical Education through its 8 colleges (formerly known as Integrated Polytechnic Regional College (IPRC)) in all the provinces of Rwanda. RP has been committedly endeavouring to its trifold mission - training, research and innovation and community engagement. Its mandate includes providing quality education that complies with applicable standards to enable beneficiaries acquire skills required to create jobs and compete in the labor market. This positions RP among key players in the development of skills and competences of Rwandan citizens required for social and economic transformation of the country.

Through its 8 colleges, RP offers 38 programs at advanced diploma level, and recently launched Bachelor of Technology programs (offered in 22 programs). Students have been continuously enrolling and graduating in these programs at a satisfactory rate. In addition to attracting talented students, RP has a committed and growing academic community with a majority of young and dynamic academicians, aspiring to achieve the best career progress.

In addition to teaching programs, RP has affiliated institutes and academies that offer specialized training. Those include the Rwanda TVET Trainers Institute (RTTI) and Africa Digital Media Academy (ADMA). RTTI as an affiliated institution to RP aims to build a critical mass of certified TVET trainers in TVET pedagogical approaches. While ADMA provides a range of training in multimedia sector to different categories of people - including entrepreneurs, media professionals, public relation staff in government and private organizations. In addition to trainings, it offers services for event livestreaming, coverage, documentary production and photography, among other.

To achieve its mission and vision, RP engages into collaborations with different partners at local, regional and international levels. All partnerships aim at positive improvements in areas of teaching, learning, research and innovation as well as associated supporting undertakings. The Agence Française de Development (AFD) is one of the key partners to RP with a recent strategic engagement through a 5 years grants/loan agreement for AFTER II Project (Appui à la Formation Technique et l'Emploi au Rwanda). One of the key projects intervention is to support RP in developing a comprehensive institutional long-term plan (Institutional Master Plan) that will guide RP for development efforts in areas of academic programs, human capital development (staff capacity building), teaching and learning environment (infrastructures and other related aspects), research and innovation system development.

AFTER II Project interventions

The Government of Rwanda and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) signed 5 years grant/loan agreements on 8^th March 2023 to implement AFTER II Project (Appui à la Formation Technique et l'Emploi au Rwanda). AFTER II aims to improve technical and vocational education and learning conditions in order to strengthen the skills of youth in line with labor market requirements.

Project management is provided by two contracting authorities: Rwanda Polytechnic (RP) for RP Colleges-related interventions, and Rwanda TVET Board (RTB) for TVET schools-related interventions, through their respective Single Projects Implementation Unit (SPIU).

Expertise France provides technical assistance to the project implementation. Short and long-term expertise are mobilized on the basis of a technical offer validated by AFD, with the agreement of the Rwandan party.

For RP, AFTER II provides interventions in the 2 colleges of focus (Kitabi College and Karongi College) and cross-cutting institutional strengthening intervention that aim at overall institutional development and performance improvement.

Focused interventions under the 2 colleges include:

• Component 1: The Kitabi and Karongi campuses are expanded, modernised and environmentally friendly
• Component 2: The training offer in the Kitabi and Karongi colleges is strengthened and more attractive
• Component 3: The link between TVET providers (RP-Colleges) and the private sector is strengthened, and employment and entrepreneurship support mechanisms are more efficient.

Cross-cutting and institutional strengthening include:

• Component 4: The quality and leadership of RP is reinforced
• Cross-cutting component 5: The TVET programs are more gender responsive and inclusive and specifically address dropouts of the general education
• Cross-cutting component 6: Greening TVET – TVET programs provide youth with green skills and competencies for sustainable economic growth

Context of the assignment

Rwanda is undergoing a rapid socio-economic transformation and the vision of the education sector policy is “to be the strongest pillar and catalyst of Rwanda’s social economic and technological transformation by producing Rwandans with necessary and sufficient knowledge, skills, competences and values”. 

In line with the Government of Rwanda’s target of increasing the enrolment rate to 60% in TVET lower compared to general education, as part of its broader strategy for human capital development and economic transformation, taking into consideration skills demand in the country, there is a need to ensure there is a clear strategy for the career pathway in TVET tertiary education and provide an adequate environment that provides TVET graduates with knowledge and skills that are relevant and responsive to the labor market demand and societal needs in general.

Rwanda Polytechnic as the only public technical higher learning institution which provides technical and vocational education and training should be prepared to accommodate the increasing number of students in TVET and respond to the needs of skills demand in the country, thus the need to develop an RP strategic plan and masterplan that informs the needed strategic investment in terms of infrastructure, human resource programs and support systems.

RP development philosophy/model

RP is taking a progressive and multidimensional development approach that aims at taking development steps in accordance to its development priority areas at different levels: individual, institutional and system aiming at achieving excellence, relevance and impact to the society while meeting national, regional and international standards. The development of the RP master plan should take into account the RP development philosophy (Fig 1) in order to inform RP strategic interventions leading to its aspirations.

Fig 1: RP development model

Objectives and scope of work

The main objective of this assignment is to develop Rwanda Polytechnic’s masterplan that will serve as strategic framework to guide the physical development and growth of the institution over the next 20 years.

To achieve this objective, the consultant will cover the below scope of work:

• Assess the relevancy of existing academic program and explore areas of academic programs expansion/growth in regards to the development strategies of the country and future of work.
• Analyse the existing human resource gaps and propose a human resource development plan taking into account existing and future needs based on academic and research programs, Higher Education Council and other international standards requirements.
• Assess the existing research and innovation system and develop a research and innovation strategic orientation for RP.
• Conduct current infrastructure assessment for all IPRCs and affiliated campuses (building facilities, ICT systems and Infrastructure and teaching equipment) to identify gaps and propose future rehabilitation and infrastructure upgrade plan.
• Analyse current and future space needs based on projected growth in student enrolment and programs.
• Prepare space utilization and land use plan and develop guidelines for land use.
• Develop conceptual designs to visualise existing and proposed infrastructures.
• Prepare a documentary video clip for the interventions at each college and a comprehensive one for RP master plan
• Develop the Strategic Environment and Social Assessment (ESMF) for the master planand gender & inclusiveness recommendations.
• Develop a 5 years detailed strategic plan
• Develop an implementation strategy for the master plan and associated cost.

In order to successfully accomplish his/her mission, the consultant(s) will work under the supervision of Rwanda Polytechnic and Expertise France.

Rwanda Polytechnic shall ensure the overall coordination and quality of the developed Master plan.

Through AFTER 2 project funds, Expertise France will provide technical and coordination support as well as covering all the costs related to this assignment.

Deliverables and implementation timeline

The implementation timeline for RP Master plan development is as follows:

Note: Each deliverable should be validated by the client (RP) to be considered final.

Minimum desired profile of the consultancy firm

The consultancy firms must demonstrate the following qualifications:

• Team of experts with PhD degree in education or related fields with extensive experience in academic (education) and research planning and management
• An economist (PhD or MSc with 5 years of experience) with experience in strategic planning and management
• A human resource management expert (PhD or MSc with 5 years of experience) with experience in staff development planning and monitoring
• Team of experts with master’s degree in architecture engineer, urban planning, landscape engineer, Quantity surveyor, IT engineers, environmentalist, gender expert and any other
• Proven experience in urban planning and master plan development (Proof of having successfully conducted at least two master plan projects)
• Expertise in environmental sustainability, infrastructure planning and stakeholder engagement
• Demonstrate ability to deliver high quality master plans that are aligned with RP aspirations, national development plans and sustainable development goals

Evaluation criteria

All bids will be evaluated according to the following standard procedure:

• Review of qualifications, CV, and proof of past work experiences in similar assignments;
• Candidates that are successful on technical review will be requested to submit a financial proposal;

The technical review will represent 70% weighting. The financial criteria will represent 30% of the weighting.

The criteria for evaluation will be as follows:

Payment schedule

The consultancy will be required to deliver the following:

How to apply

The consultancy company who meets the qualifications should submit the following documents:

Technical proposal:

• A letter of interest and a Technical Proposal (not more than 10 pages) outlining the firm qualification and previous work experience relevant to the assignment, technical approach and methodology and a roadmap and implementation timeline.
• Curriculum vitae of proposed experts indicating all relevant experience relevant to the assignment (Maximum 3 pages for each proposed CV).
• A proof of having undertaken similar work.

Financial Proposal: 

The financial offer will be calculated based on man-days (see table below to be filled)

Note:

• The cost related to travel and accommodation will follow Expertise France procedures
• Other costs (except travel cost and accommodation) to be mentioned as well
• All cost must be tax inclusive

Application to be done through the link below:-

https://www.expertisefrance.fr/en/on-recrute?redirected=2#page-11905---1---rp-masterplan-after-ii-h-f---en_US

The deadline for application: 20 November 2024