During a press conference held on April 16, 2025 at Xianhe Hall, Beijing International Club, Professor Lionel M. Ni, Founding President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), emphasized the growing demand for AI expertise and how his university is actively inviting foreign talent, including from Africa, to be part of the innovation ecosystem.

Professor Ni said that the university is not just Chinese in location but global in spirit, with 10 to 20 percent of its student population coming from outside China and a diverse faculty recruited from around the world.

“My university is a truly international university… probably 10%, 20% non-Chinese students coming to our place… We’re pleased to entertain, to host the student or senior faculty working with us,” he said.

His remarks come at a time when Rwanda is investing heavily in its digital economy. The country’s One Million Coders program aims to train one million citizens in digital skills by 2030, with a strong focus on artificial intelligence, software development, and data analysis.

China’s willingness to host Rwandan students and researchers in its advanced tech labs could fast-track the goals of this national program and create new pathways for innovation-led growth.

At the event, Professor Ni also addressed a question about China’s reliance on Nvidia chips, which are said to have been used in training the advanced Chinese AI model Deepseek.

He acknowledged that China cannot yet access the most advanced chips but is actively investing in local alternatives. “With the century, I cannot get the most advanced, but… I’m looking for some local companies as well… I’m pretty sure in a year or so, you will see the software ecosystem,” he said.

This shift toward technological independence, he explained, is not just about hardware. It involves building complete ecosystems that support AI development, including software, data infrastructure, and academic research.

By involving international students in this effort, China is effectively inviting countries like Rwanda to be part of shaping that future. Rwanda, which already integrates AI across multiple sectors including health, education, and finance, stands to gain from such cooperation.

With the right partnerships, Rwandan students and professionals could gain hands-on experience in high-impact research and contribute directly to global advances in intelligent systems. For a country that has declared technology as a pillar of its economic transformation, the opportunity could not be more timely.

Professor Lionel M. Ni, Founding President of HKUST (Guangzhou) said during a recent press conference in Beijing that his University is pleased to host students and senior faculty researchers from around the world.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology HKUST (Guangzhou)has emerged as a global hub for AI and intelligent computing education and research.