BUJUMBURA March 23rd (ABP) – The University is an actor of development. Innovation at the level of research is decisive in providing answers to the concerns of a country, a region and a population. These are the remarks of Professor Gélase Nimbona, teacher-researcher at the University of Burundi, through his communication on “University governance and networking in the French-speaking world”, during a conference-debate organized on the Mutanga campus of the University of Burundi, on the occasion of the celebration of the International Week of La Francophonie, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
According to Prof. Nimbona, at the same time Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FLSH), the challenges of the university must be oriented towards increasing the impact of research on society, on the well-being and the prosperity of citizens. Thus, he specified, in addition to two fundamental missions of the university, that is to say, teaching and research, the university must be involved in the life of society in general and in the economic development of the country in particular.
He pointed out that the university world has been undergoing transformations since the 1990s and that the mode of management of a public service places the university at the heart of the socio-economic development of a country in interaction with the economic world and the world companies. The organization of the university must be thought out according to the innovation model of the triple helix based on the interactions between the universities which produce knowledge, the companies which produce goods and services and the governments which regulate the markets, finance the research and support innovation. Thus, through his presentation, the speaker Nimbona insisted on the need to adapt the university organization to the challenges of internationalization, innovation and economic competitiveness.
As part of the celebration of that Week, the national office of the University Agency of La Francophonie (AUF) in Burundi organized other activities. The head of the AUF Burundi Prof. Fulgence Nahayo notes a remote conference from Yaoundé on Web 3.0 in education-Blockhain, metavers, a competition of students gathered in French-speaking clubs on the presentations of the Week, presentations from the AUF and its actions in Burundi and internationally.
According to Mr. Nahayo, other activities that are underway at the AUF Burundi National Office and in member universities include open distance education (FOAD), the competition ‘my thesis in 180 sec’, 2023 edition, the competition my idea my, business 2023 edition, results-based management training based on the rapid results method applied to entrepreneurial projects, training in job search techniques and internships for university graduates.
The Week of the French Language and Francophonie took inception in 1995. It is organized every year on March 20. This event is therefore a privileged moment of French-speaking identity. Note that for all practical purposes that in addition to the head of the AUF Burundi Office and the Deputy Rector of the University of Burundi Dr. Emery Nukuri, that conference-debate took place in the presence of the Deputy Advisor for Cooperation and of cultural action at the French Embassy in Burundi Mr. Christophe Reilhac and the Assistant to the Burundian Minister in charge of National Education, Mr. Helmenégilde Burikukiye.