Abstract: This study is entitled “The Social and economic impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on private higher education in Rwanda.” The purpose of this study is to identify the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on private higher learning institutions in Rwanda. The researchers reviewed the related literature from physical and online documents. This research employed descriptive research design using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The research adopted purposive sampling technique to determine a sample size of 437 respondents ranged from Students, Staff, and Senior Managers from 26 private HLIs in Rwanda. Data was collected through questionnaire, documentation, and interviews. Primary data were analyzed using SPSS. As results of this study, almost 90% of respondents confirmed that COVID-19 affected the enrolment numbers for both international and local students. Some HLIs, especially local-based ones, reported that this impact would continuously have negative financial consequences over the next 3 to five years. At almost all HLIs, COVID-19 affected teaching and learning activities where 91% of the respondents reported that classroom teaching had been replaced by remote teaching and learning. 100% of HLIs also reported that COVID-19 had affected the planning to carry out exams and it has had an impact on international students and staff mobility at 99% of participating HLIs. As a major recommendation, HLIs should have strategies in place to control future pandemic rather than considering the COVID-19 pandemic as a once-in-a-lifetime crisis.

Abstract: This study aims to assess the contribution of internationalization to the economic growth of hotel industry of Rwanda with a case study of Park Inn by Radisson Kigali. The study was guided by the following objectives: To determine the factors influencing international trade, to determine the impact of internationalization to the commercialization, to identify the challenges faced by internationalization and to suggest the possible solutions to the challenges faced by internationalization in Park Inn by Radisson Kigali. The questionnaires were distributed to 110 sampled employees during data collection. Data was organized, coded and entered into SPSS Software for cleaning and analysis. The study established the following findings: the major factor influencing internationalization is profit maximization at 52%. 47% responded customer needs change as a major challenge that is mostly faced in internationalization. The study revealed different solutions to overcome the internationalization challenges. The contribution of international trade to the commercialization is financial performance with 39.4% of the respondents. The study concludes that internationalization stimulates business travel and contributes to networking at the individual, business, and at national levels. It is recommended that the hotel industry trains the employees to satisfy customers according to their needs in order to enhance different products through employee innovation, the government should continue to improve infrastructure for facilitating the internationalization businesses.