President calls on universities to lead in development

President Macky Sall has called on universities to take a key role in bringing about changes necessary for the construction of a 'new Senegal'. In a speech at the naming ceremony of the University Assane Seck of Ziguinchor, he also recalled that the state was providing FCFA302 billion (US$636 million) for new university infrastructure.

Sall said the university world must be "at the heart of fundamental movements to make the necessary changes to mindsets and behaviour, to construct Senegal's future", through the Emerging Senegal Plan, or PSE, reported Le Soleil of Dakar.

The PSE vision of the new Senegal required mobilisation of all the nation's forces and maximum value from regional, national and international resources to find appropriate answers to multiple economic, social and cultural challenges, said Sall, who stressed the importance of higher education and research in the venture.

He recalled decisions taken during the presidential council meeting on higher education in August 2013 to "develop the university system to make access easier, diversify courses and ensure quality of higher education and research", which included funding of FCFA302 billion for a number of infrastructure projects.

Chief among these were the planned second university in Dakar; the future University of Sine Saloum situated at Kaolack, Diourbel, Fatick and Kaffrine in the central region; the University of Tambacounda; the Virtual University of Senegal; and the Islamic University.

Sall said university centres would also be established in the existing universities of Thies, Saint-Louis, Dakar, Bambey and Ziguinchor.

The Ziguinchor centre, at Kolda, would include a philosophy and psychology department, a department of pastoral farming sciences and a higher institute of vocational education, said Sall, while Casamance region "will provide by 2017 a prominent place for the development of higher education and research in Senegal, and even in the sub-region".

During Sall's visit, the rector of the University Assane Seck of Ziguinchor, Professor Courfia Kaba Diawara, described the new university's ambitions to develop a culture of quality, but also mentioned its constraints, reported Le Soleil.

These included problems of staff mobility, insufficient personnel and lack of accommodation for them, as well as the need for environmental improvements such as roads, paving and provision of green spaces.

Sall promised improved conditions for living, studying and working in the university so it could achieve objectives set by the World Bank, which had allocated FCFA3 billion for its expansion. Sall said a FCFA1 billion call for bids had been launched for construction for this year.

* This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.