16/6/2006
New African High-Level Water Engineering Institution

The first stone of the international water-engineering and environment institute at Ouagadougou was laid on June 16 with representatives of the French Foreign Ministry and World Bank present.  The project is being co-financed by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The establishment of the institute, which is due to be completed in 2010, is part of the much larger initiative launched by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to promote science and technology in sub-Saharan Africa.

The institute in Ouagadougou will be the heir of a regional establishment created 35 years ago with France’s support. That institution, the EIER-ESTHER group (Institution d’enseignement supérieur et de recherche pour l’Afrique dans les domaines de l’eau et de l’environnement), trained engineers from the 14 French-speaking African states which are partners in it.

The new institute will admit students from the entire African continent with a view to producing 1,000 graduates by 2010.  Designed as a platform for high-level training and research, it will rely on international partnerships and systematically use electronic methods and distance-learning.