France strengthens its support to African universities

Institutions

Pays concerné(s)

Afrique

The Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR, National Agency for Research) published the call for projects of the second edition of the “Partenariats avec l’enseignement supérieur africain” programme (PEA, Partnerships with African higher education), with 20 M€ budget.

The PEA programme is funded by the Agence Française de Développement (French Agency for Development) as part of the “Bienvenue en France” strategy (Welcome to France) driven by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation and their operators at the ANR, and Campus France. The PEA programme aims at funding ambitious university partnership agreements in industries critical to the sustainable development of 18 eligible African countries. The first edition launched in March 2020 had met strong success with about sixty applications and seven winner projects.

As the number of students from Sub-Saharan Africa should double over the next decade to reach 22 million in 2030, the strengthening of higher education systems appears as a key lever to support the diversification and resilience of economies and to promote sustainable development.

More than ever, the current health crisis has shed the light on the need to properly design integrated study courses of higher education and research supporting all countries in their preparation to address the common challenges of tomorrow.

Improving institutions and [their] [African] university courses means multiplying partnerships, sharing processes, crossed trainings, and joint degrees, to fill expectations [of African young people] and help you better learn from one another. Emmanuel Macron, during his Ouagadougou speech on 28 November 2017 at the Ki-Zerbo university.

THE “PARTENARIATS AVEC L’ENSEIGNEMENT SUPERIEUR AFRICAIN” (PEA) PROGRAMME

The “Partenariats avec l’enseignement supérieur africain” (PEA) programme is one aspect of the “Bienvenue en France” strategy (Welcome to France) presented by the French Prime Minister in November 2018. The programme supplements the welcome policy of African students in France.

It is designed as part of a dual mechanism of strengthening capacities of African institutions and improving the international drawing power of French institutions, and aims at:

Offering to male and female students of the African continent the opportunity to find in their country or region quality training courses as early as the Licence course that match the needs of the socio-economic world;
Guide players of the French higher education in their development of partnerships, and particularly in strategic industries for the economies of affected countries;
Foster the mobility of students and teachers from a French institution to an African institution, in both ways.

The second edition will be funded up to 20 million Euros by the French government through the AFD as part of the policy to support developping countries led by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs with the Ministry or Higher Education, Research and Innovation. The call for project will be carried out by the ANR and Campus France.

ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES

The PEA programme is open to the following 18 African countries defined as having “priority” by the Interministerial International Cooperation and Development Committee: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Chad, and Togo.

PROJECTS SELECTION

Each project will be driven by consortium monitored by a higher education countries from a priority African country, and by a French higher education institution, and possibly by additional French higher education institutions. The programme will target Licence (three-years study course), Master (five-years study course) and/or Doctorate/PhD (eight-years study course) degrees in an industry critical to the sustainable development of the related country.

The projects selection process of the call for projects will follow two steps: applicants first submit their pre-project, and, after an assessment, preselected candidates submit their full project. Laureate projects will be supported during 4 years to reach 1.5 to 3.5 M€.