The Executive Secretary of the PAGGW at the University of Nouakchott: a visit to strengthen ties
April 18, 2017
Nouakchott, 18 April 2017 — At the invitation of Prof. Ahmedou Haouba, President of the University of Nouakchott Al Aasriya, Prof. Abdoulaye Dia, Executive Secretary of the PAGGW, accompanied by the Scientific and Technical Director, Mr Abakar Mahamat Zougoulou, and the PAGGW’s Communication, Marketing and Advocacy Officer, Mr Mahamadou Coulibaly, carried out a working visit to the University, where they met with the President and his associates, represented by the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, the Head of the Biology Department, the Head of the Biodiversity and Plant Resources Development Unit, and teacher-researchers.
The parties reviewed the areas of cooperation, the University’s Strategic Plan arising from the University reform, and the PAGGW’s instruments in support of training and research. The Plan in question sets out the University’s vision for the next four years and addresses the University’s governance, its human resources and its research-training strategy. From the overview presented by the President, one will retain the professionalisation effort aimed at placing the University at the service of society and at the heart of socio-economic development issues, with quality human resources. Hence the need to strengthen the relevant programmes.
Prof. Dia expressed his joy at taking part in such a meeting, saying: “Every time I come to the University, I find my family again.” For him, the University must have its place in the socio-economic development policies of African countries in general and of Mauritania in particular. On this subject, the Executive Secretary mentioned the Research and Training Support Programme (PAREF), implemented and supported by the PAGGW, in which Al Aasriya University may take part. For its first academic year of operation (2017–2018), PAREF covers the scholarship and other costs related to the training of a master’s student in Burkina Faso and a doctoral student in Mali, each of whom is working on themes related to the Great Green Wall and its route.
The two parties expressed their willingness to work together, within a group made up of the two entities established to monitor the implementation of the decisions. The University of Nouakchott Al Aasriya extends over a peaceful setting of 9 km² and has 13,000 students distributed across four faculties: science and technology, arts and humanities, and law and economics, in addition to a faculty of medicine. It also includes a vocational university institute.
