Africa-Press – Seychelles. “The world trusts us”
Being named one of the vice-presidents of the “Conference of Rectors of the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region, offers plenty of possibilities for Seychelles, said Joëlle Perreau, the vice-chancellor of the University of Seychelles, following his appointment last month.
Miss Perreau was appointed during the first edition of the Regional Conference of Rectors of Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean which was held on July 19 and 20, 2023 at the Radisson Blu Antananarivo, Madagascar, under the aegis of the Francophonie University Agency (AUF).
This conference brought together Professor Slim Khalbous, rector of the AUF, as well as the presidents, rectors and general managers of the member establishments of the AUF from nine countries, namely Angola, South Africa, the Comoros , France, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique and the Seychelles.
Speaking at the University of Seychelles headquarters in Mont Fleuri on Wednesday, Miss Perreau said she was surprised by the announcement, but she is very proud to be one of three vice-presidents to represent the forty universities in the region that are part of this office.
“We have been offered an important position within the office of this region. Having this opportunity, a university as small as ours, means that the world trusts us, the region trusts us and we did something that they liked and appreciated,” she said.
Miss Perreau added that this appointment would help Seychellois to trust them.She said that the office, headquartered in Madagascar and operating full time, has identified four priorities, namely action research, mobility to facilitate the movement of students between universities in the region, the development of technology and employability that guarantees the employment of people after their university studies, and digital transformation.
“We will be able to offer more opportunities for training, research, development and given that we have chosen mobility as one of the priorities, this means that this can also encourage students from all these countries, from all these universities , to come and spend a year or two in the Seychelles. So it also helps the economy, ”added Ms. Perreau.
She also said that in addition to regional exchanges, Seychelles will also be able to benefit through the 1,030 universities from 119 countries, which are members of the AUF.
“The AUF has a program called ‘Entreprendre’, already offered by the universities of the region, where there are business incubators that could be very useful for our local entrepreneurs, identified by the local agencies”, he said. she declared.
“We will also now be able to call on the help of experts from these 1,030 universities to provide training in Seychelles in the areas that are needed,” she added.
Miss Perreau appealed to Seychellois to find out about the opportunities available.The University of Seychelles has been a member of the AUF since 2010. The agency was founded in 1961 in Montreal, Canada and is the first university network in the world.
The Regional Conference of Rectors of Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean was to meet every year and the global meeting is scheduled in four years.
The president is Dr. Radhakhrishna Somanah from the University of the Mascarenes of Mauritius, the vice-presidents are: Dr. Luc Rakotondrajao from the Institute of Technology of Antananarivo, Pr. Jorge Ferrão from the Pedagogical University of Mozambique and Dr. Joëlle Perreau from the University of Seychelles.
Pr. Aissatou Sy-Wonyu of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie is the secretary general.
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