Carnegie Mellon University Africa is the overseas campus of Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering, located in Kigali Innovation City, Rwanda — and the only US-based university offering its degrees with a full-time faculty and staff presence in Africa. Born out of a landmark partnership between CMU and the Government of Rwanda and established in 2011 (with graduate programmes starting on the ground in 2012), CMU-Africa exists to address the critical shortage of high-quality engineering talent required to accelerate development in Africa — home to the fastest-growing workforce in the world.

The campus has grown steadily from small early cohorts to hundreds of full-time resident graduate students drawn from 20+ African countries, with strong support from the Government of Rwanda, the Mastercard Foundation, Smart Africa and the Mandela Institute for Developmental Studies. It moved into a purpose-built facility in 2019 as anchor tenant of Kigali Innovation City, whose goal is to catalyse Rwanda’s economic growth through digital innovation and entrepreneurial activity. CMU-Africa graduates rise quickly into technology leadership roles, with the large majority working on the continent. Its research and initiatives extend well beyond teaching: CMU-Africa leads Afretec (the African Engineering and Technology Network), a network of ten African universities driving inclusive digital growth through education, knowledge creation and entrepreneurship; hosts CyLab-Africa, a collaboration with CMU’s CyLab Security and Privacy Institute improving cybersecurity for Africa and other emerging economies; and partners on the Kigali Collaborative Research Centre. Alumni ventures span cybersecurity training initiatives and startups like Greenalytic Motors, engineering sustainable transport for Rwandan farmers.