Experts from higher education in Central Africa meet in Yaoundé to update the tools of the feasibility study for the creation of the University Technological Excellence Centers (PETU)
The objective of this new meeting is to relaunch the financing process of the project, the first phase of which is the updating of the project document and its alignment with the new national priorities guided by the Sustainable Development Objectives.
The UNESCO Regional Multi-Sectoral Office for Central Africa, in collaboration with the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), is organising a workshop of experts in higher education from 10 - 12 October 2017 Central Africa, on updating the tools of the feasibility study for the establishment of PETUs in the subregion.
Ministers in charge of Higher Education of ECCAS countries, meeting in Yaounde in June 2012, signed the Declaration committing to the establishment of the PETU. UNESCO and the African Development Bank (AfDB), in addition to other support and initiatives from the African Union and sub-regional organisations, have been supporting technical and financial support for the creation of PETUs for more than seven years.
PETU are universities of international quality open to all and serving the common interest and capable of producing in an essential technological discipline an elite capable of being validly involved in the major projects of the economic and social development of the countries of ECCAS. These disciplinary fields are centered on the following areas: Agriculture, livestock, fisheries, agro-industry, biotechnology; Energetics, electrical engineering, thermal biomedical engineering, renewable energies; Infrastructure, mining and metallurgy; Petroleum, gas, chemical engineering; Forest - wood, water, environment; Applied Mathematics, Mechanics; and Computer engineering, telecommunications, information and communication technology
The various meetings organised since 2010 on PETU have enabled the validation of a roadmap, the development of the in situ assessment tools of the candidate institutions and the preparation of a request for financing of the project submitted by ECCAS to the AfDB.
The objective of this new meeting is to relaunch the project financing process, the first phase of which is to update the project document and align it with the new national priorities guided by the Sustainable Development Objectives.
It should be noted that the Yaoundé concertation will also serve as a forum for exchanges on subregional initiatives and the identification of the lines of joint action between UNESCO and ECCAS.
