TUNISIA: Conference discusses Averroès project

Mobility of university students and teachers, and joint studies and diplomas, were on the agenda at the University of Sousse during a three-day conference to discuss the Euro-Mediterranean Averroès programme, reported La Presse of Tunisia.

The Averroès project, coordinated by the French University of Montpellier-2, is financed under the European Commission's Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window programme, with the objective of strengthening cooperation between European and North African higher education institutions through promoting exchange of persons, knowledge and skills at higher education level.

It brings together universities from Belgium, France, Italy and Spain with nine North African universities - Tunis, Sfax and Sousse in Tunisia; Oran, Béjaia and Constantine in Algeria; and Rabat, Tétouan and Marrakesh in Morocco. Seventeen associates are local, national and international organisations which participate in the project's activities.

Among issues discussed at the Sousse conference were practicalities of the Averroès project, and quality and scientific research in Tunisian universities.

The Tunisian Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology, Lazhar Bououni, highlighted the contributions to distance education, digitisation of courses and "entrepreneurial culture" made by the European Union's Tempus and Erasmus Mundus programmes, reported La Presse.

True intercultural dialogue was based on mobility, said the minister, who underlined the importance of jointly supervised courses and theses in raising the quality of university education and doctoral research.

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