REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (REOI)
(CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRM SELECTION)

Project Name: National Plan for the Teaching and Learning of French in Rwanda (PNFR)
Source of fund: MINEDUC/AFD

Grant Agreement Number: CRW105901R

Submission deadline: Refer to Umucyo

Assignment Title: Consultancy service for Developing new French programmes at university level in Rwanda


1. PROJECT BACKGROUND
The overall objective of the National Plan for the Teaching and Learning of French in Rwanda (PNFR) is to respond to the Government of Rwanda’s October 2018 decision to use the French language more broadly across sectors including education, training, and professional world. This plan has been endorsed by the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) on the 1st of April 2022 and aims at promoting the teaching and learning of French in Rwanda. French is one of Rwanda’s official languages, recognized in the 2003 Constitution.

In 2008, Rwanda entered the EAC and shifted from French language to English as the language of instruction in public sector. Recognizing the potential for enhanced collaboration with the francophone countries, the Plan is designed to shift the approach to learning French from its use as a language of instruction to learning it as a foreign language for real-world situations thanks to innovative, context-grounded teaching practices. In this way the Plan works to improve the efficiency of the time spent studying French, meeting students’ needs more directly by taking into account the learning context and the more specific and strategic opportunities for how French can help them, particularly in meeting the needs of the labour market and in higher education fields of study. The Plan emphasizes French learning for STEM and the use of ICT in language learning.

The PNFR has four strategic components that will be implemented by MINEDUC in close collaboration with its affiliated agencies: REB (Rwanda basic Education Board), NESA (National Examination and School Inspection Authority), RTB (Rwanda TVET Board), RP (Rwanda Polytechnic), HEC (Higher Education Council), and UR (University of Rwanda).

Those strategic components are the following:
a) Strengthen the French teachers’ level of French proficiency
b) Strengthen the appeal of the French language & access to a renovated, action-oriented approach to teaching French
c) Contribute to improved employability through French
d) Coordinate and implement the plan.

2. ASSIGNMENT
This assignment intends to create new programmes at university level for the College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) and the strengthening of Centres for Language Enhancement (UR-CLE), in order to open up the cursus to new career opportunities.
The assignment includes the following points:
a) Creation of a new dual programme in Language and Journalism with a focus on the dual specialization programme of French and Journalism and communication.
b) Review of the Master programme (MA) in Translation & Interpreting.
c) Development of UR-CLE with the pedagogical training of teachers and the creation of two new modules: (1) French for communication and (2) French for Business.
d) Training of HEC teams in Quality Assurance.
e) Some French Resource Centres (FRC) will be developed/created in the institutions (School of Journalism and communication, Department of Translation & Interpreting and UR-CLE) with provision of IT equipment and books. It will be demanded to the firm to advise about the selection of the pedagogical resources for each field.
The selected firm will have at least 10 years’ experience in the field of international university cooperation with the development of programmes in French language. It will be demanded to the firm to select consultants who are specialists in the development of the specific programmes so that they will develop these programmes and modules with the local teams. The blended mode will be required to follow up activities and accreditation process.

3. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TERMS OF REFERENCE
a) The CASS will be overhauled to develop a dual specialization programme, Language & Journalism, with the School of Journalism and Communication (SJC). The selected firm will work in close collaboration with the CASS and the SJC teams to develop this new dual specialization programme of French & Journalism with the training outlines and modules in the context of action learning that may be complemented by training sessions. The creation of this new programme will also include the question of teacher and student mobility. Ideally there would be a partnership between UR-CASS and a Francophone university.
This package of support will be extended to some private universities which offer courses in the same area.
b) This action was not initially mentioned in the PNFR but was proposed upon the request of the beneficiaries at the university level. The support of the selected consultant will allow the teams of CASS to review the MA programme of Translation and Interpreting with two separate programmes, one for Translation and another one for Interpreting.. Technics in interpreting will be developed according to the existing equipment and partnerships with other universities will be settled in order to follow up the evolution of the programmes.
c) UR-CLE is responsible for strengthening students’ language skills in French, English, Kinyarwanda and Kiswahili. Currently the French courses are offered in nine (9) UR campuses despite the few teachers. The selected firm will train the teachers to the pedagogy of FFL and FSO and will develop two (2) modules with the teams: one in French for communication and another one in French for Business. The module of FFL will be proposed to the students of STEM and the module of French for Business will be proposed to the students of the School of Business.
d) Even if the selected firm will train the teams of HEC to Quality Assurance, the new programmes (French & Journalism, Translation and Interpreting) will be accredited by HEC with other external reviewers.


4. TENDER REQUIREMENT & REGISTRATION

The MINEDUC is hiring a firm with the experience of developing similar projects and activities in higher education. The firm shall demonstrate past experience (at least 5 years) and show competences in the development and follow up of past projects. The transfer of knowledge through the training workshops (and the building of new programmes and modules) will be important for the sustainability of the project and the creation of new professional opportunities.

The shortlisting criteria/required documents are:
1. The description and documents indicating that they have performed similar assignments with same complexity and nature in the last 10 years.
2. Certificate of company registration issued by Country of registration with business-related activities.
3. Submission of EOI Letter.
4. Signed statement of integrity

 The Request for Proposals (RFP) will be issued to the shortlisted consulting firms whose EOIs are most qualified to the assignment. The shortlist of selected firms will be between 4 and 6.
 All EOI can be written in English or French and must be submitted on the deadline set by the e-procurement system. EOI will be opened on the same day in the e-procurement system.
 The RFP is published on both e-procurement systems: AFD’s dgMarket and Rwanda Governement’s UMUCYO. Bidders are required to submit their bid only on UMUCYO.
 Bidders are required to register with Rwanda’s e-procurement system (UMUCYO) on the following website Rwanda On-Line E-Procurement System (umucyo.gov.rw).
 For this specific REOI, the bidders can contact RPPA (Rwanda Public Procurement Authority) on the following e-mail address e-procurement@rppa.gov.rw for registration and submission of their EOI.
 The candidates who are black listed are not eligible (each candidate will undergo a check of UN, EU, France and World Bank financial sections lists).
For further information regarding the tender, interested eligible bidders can enquire through UMUCYO e-procurement System and through the following e-mail address: info@mineduc.gov.rw

The deadline for submitting the EOI is the 17th of March 2023.