Côte d’Ivoire: Extending vocational training to higher education

Under the auspices of the Ministry of Technical Education, Vocational Training, and Apprenticeship (METFPA), Côte d’Ivoire is preparing to open an engineering school. This initiative follows a recent meeting between ministry officials and representatives from the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) of Lyon.

As a partner in the project, the Lyon-based school will provide its expertise in teacher training and equipment provision for student training. “My role is to co-construct with you this engineering school, which will enable us to have higher technical education to recruit more young people”, said the head of the ministerial department, N’Guessan Koffi.

For now, the Ivorian ministry has not provided more explicit details about the project. However, the instruction has indicated that one of the objectives is to increase the visibility of technical and vocational education and training. This will attract more students and offer them higher education pathways.

This project continues an existing collaboration between INSA and METFPA. In July 2023, the two institutions concluded a partnership in which the Lyon school committed to supporting the creation of scientific preparatory classes in Côte d’Ivoire and training young Ivorian graduates from technical and vocational education. The idea is to transform them into industrial engineers capable of directly entering the Ivorian job market.

It is worth noting that INSA is one of the 204 French engineering schools accredited to award an engineering degree.

Yvan Soucr