MAURITANIA
The West African nation of Mauritania plans to establish its first university that will specialise in science education in the capital, Nouakchott. It aims to supply the labour market with the academic, technical and professional competencies necessary for achieving sustainable development.
The Mauritanian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research announced its plan in a media release posted on its official Facebook page on 21 November.
The new university will be located in Toujouonine, a suburb of Nouakchott in western Mauritania, and will occupy an area of 23,000 square metres. Its offerings will include information engineering, electrical, mechanical, civil and metallurgical engineering, and other specialisations that the Mauritanian scientific market needs. It will be financed by the United Arab Emirates and is projected to accept about 1,500 students.
The new university is in line with the government’s five-year implementation plan for its strategy for research and innovation and the 10-year strategy for higher education that jointly focus on making research and innovation a lever for socio-economic transformation as well as producing the scientific workforce for developing a knowledge economy.
Higher education and scientific research systems
Another new university, Tagant University in Tidjikja is also under way, which will, together with the new science university, complement the current Mauritanian public higher education system that consists of the University of Nouakchott, which absorbs about 70% of the student population, and the University of Islamic Sciences in Laayoune, along with two higher education schools, as well as several higher learning institutes.
Mauritania also has one private university called the Lebanese International University of Mauritania, which is part of the private Lebanese International University group.
Mauritania has been lagging in education, where the gross tertiary enrolment rate is 5.7% compared to a regional average of 33.75% in 2019, according to the Arab Development Portal.
Mauritania’s lack of scientific capacity, weak linkages between universities and industries as well as the lack of innovation capabilities, have been highlighted in several international reports.
Mauritania ranks 129th out of 132 countries in the 2022 Global Innovation Index (GII) which measures the multidimensional facets of innovation. It also ranks 132nd in knowledge and technology output, 127th in high-tech exports and 112th in human capital and research.
Out of 141 countries, Mauritania was ranked 140th in entrepreneurial culture, 137th for graduates’ skill sets, 130th for research and development and 128th for innovation capability, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2019 Global Competitiveness Report.
Strengthening scientific capacity
Mohamed Yeslem Elbagher, a former Mauritanian researcher at the University of Nouakchott, told University World News: “This new university will help to strengthen scientific capacity and generate market-testable products and services along with industry-ready graduates, as well as spread knowledge about innovation and its impact on sustainable development.
“This could be achieved by expanding its educational and research mission to support the incubation and emergence of start-ups along with preparing studies for solving complex societal problems as well as building bridges with society and other local higher education institutions,” Elbagher said.
“The new university must also establish programmes for technological solutions and prepare innovative business ideas to promote the effective utilisation of university research through transforming research findings into products and services for the market,” he said.
Developing local postgraduate programmes
Mohamed Hamady Sidihelballa, the assistant secretary general for external relations of the National Union of Mauritanian Students, or UNEM, told University World News via WhatsApp that the new university is in line with student community demands.
“The new university must respond to our national developmental priorities,” Sidihelballa said.
“It must also launch postgraduate programmes to save students from the trouble of travel and study abroad expenses along with helping in tackling the problem of the academic brain drain as well as saving financial resources spent on national programmes for study at foreign universities worldwide,” he pointed out.
“As a start, and to face the weak educational and scientific capabilities of managing local postgraduate programmes, I think the new university could establish home-grown collaborative postgraduate programmes where different local universities, higher education institutions and the industry work collaboratively through sharing their staff, finance, infrastructure and facilities along with making use of academic diaspora,” Sidihelballa suggested.
“Having a postgraduate programmes on home soil will help in getting home-grown PhD and masters holders who are capable of producing local knowledge for the developing of an innovation-based economy as well as achieving sustainable development goals,” he added.
While the total number of mobile Mauritanian students abroad is 4,704, it only hosts 354 foreign students, according to the UNESCO report, Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students.