Interview with Delphine Édith Emmanuel Adouki, Minister of Education Higher Education, Research and Technological Innovation since May 15 2021. Holder of a University doctorate in public law (Paris 1), a DEA of international studies and a DESS in international administration, she has the responsibility for higher education of Congolese youth.
What are the main thrusts of the scientific research and innovation strategy for the period 2022-2026?
First of all, it should be recalled that in October 2022, the Republic of Congo adopted a National Policy for Scientific Research and Innovation (PNRSI), developed based on the diagnostic analysis of the Congolese economy carried out within the framework of the National Development Plan (PND) 2022-2026, an instrument for implementing the Social Project of the President of the Republic "Together, let's continue the march". The PNRSI clearly defines our country's real ambition to systematically move towards a sustainable economy based on knowledge. It represents a support made available to decision-makers, all stakeholders, civil society and development partners for the scientific research and technological innovation sector.
To enable the successful implementation of this Policy, we validated in December of the same year, an operational instrument of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, in particular, the Strategy and Action Plan for Scientific Research and Innovation (SPARSI) of the Republic of Congo. This instrument is structured around six (6) main strategic axes accompanied by a first operational plan which covers the period from 2023 to 2026. It is a budgeted and consolidated plan in the form of programs resulting from the contributions of all the institutions and centers of scientific research, technology and innovation in the country.
These different strategic axes are:
– Strengthening institutional capacities: with the objective of making our national system of scientific research and innovation efficient and coherent by ensuring that the different actors involved through their respective institutions, intervene in the execution of scientific research and innovation in perfect interaction with each other.
– Strengthening the supply of scientific and technical knowledge of public utility: The Republic of Congo intends to rely on a knowledge-based economy to support society in the face of the major challenges it faces.
– Strengthening service provision capacities: This strategic axis sets out our ambition to become a competitive country in the sub-region in terms of both innovation and scientific research. This ambition must necessarily involve our ability to offer the necessary service through infrastructure, private sector involvement, improvement of the research framework, protection and promotion of results and continuing training of researchers.
– Increasing the capacity of demand and adoption of technology: in the face of the rapid evolution of the world of technology, this strategic axis aims to build a rapprochement between technologies and decision-makers, so that the latter become more involved in the creation of a political system that highlights technological needs and their transfer in order to promote their absorption or use.
– Promotion of national, international and multi-party cooperation: This axis aims to boost scientific and technological cooperation of the Congolese State at the national and international level, also with countries, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, bodies and private companies whose competence in at least one of the scientific and technological disciplines represents a major interest for the country.
– Strengthening links between supply and demand in research and innovation: To promote the development of the industrial sector in the face of technological needs, it is important to promote the rapprochement of research organizations (public and private) and industries by removing barriers or bottlenecks to collaboration between researchers, innovators, inventors and industrialists.
Furthermore, we must highlight two very important elements. First, the six strategic axes of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation for the period from 2023 to 2026 are broken down into 31 strategic orientations, the implementation of which is supported by the programs and projects as well as the concrete activities to be carried out, all included in the operational plan that we mentioned previously.
Finally, SPARSI has a monitoring and evaluation mechanism based on Results-Based Management (RBM).
To ensure the attractiveness of higher education, training must meet business demand. What action are you taking to achieve this?
Regarding the attractiveness of higher education, we are indeed aware that training must meet business demand. It is with this in mind that discussions will be conducted during the 4th session of the National Council for Higher Education (CNES), which will be held on September 27, 28, and 29, 2023.
The main areas of reflection retained are, among others:
The training-employment match;
The National Status of Student Entrepreneurs (SNEE);
The needs of the world of work;
Professional integration of graduates.
And what about the National Status of Student Entrepreneurs (SNEE)?
Entrepreneurship is an alternative to reducing unemployment among graduates faced with difficulties in entering the job market and can generally provide solutions to issues relating to youth unemployment, thus helping to facilitate their integration into the socio-economic environment.
The Republic of Congo is benefiting from the establishment of a pilot experiment to study the possibilities of developing a system that will allow students to develop their entrepreneurial skills and make them actors in their professional integration through the deployment (AUF Entrepreneurship Program) of the National Status of the Student-Entrepreneur in 9 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean (Congo, Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Haiti and Mauritius).
The SNEE project will be submitted to the National Council for Higher Education for approval. The ministerial commitment is affirmed, with direct participation, whose role is to unite all initiatives undertaken around student entrepreneurship, establish a legal framework, and mobilize national stakeholders involved in entrepreneurship.
What is the status of the construction of the Congo-Cameroon Interstate University in Mokéko in the Sangha Department?
Regarding the construction of the Congo-Cameroon Inter-State University, for the Congolese side, the work is sufficiently advanced. Indeed, after the signing, on December 12, 2012, of the Convention establishing this University, the Ministry in charge of higher education has already officially acquired in the district of Mokéko a plot of land with an area of 117 hectares 08 ares 59 centiares (or 1,170,859.95 m2) intended for the construction of the said University.
Currently, we are awaiting the publication shortly of the call for tenders for the award of contracts for the studies and construction of the University by the Ministry responsible for major works.
You are a founding member of the network of French-speaking environmental lawyers. Have you noticed an awareness among Congolese students of ecology and an enthusiasm for related diplomas?
We have noted an awareness among Congolese students of ecology, as finalist students from the National School of Agronomy and Forestry (ENSAF) at Marien Ngouabi University have set up an NGO for the preservation of aquatic ecosystems in Congo.
There has also been a surge in interest in ecology-related degrees, as many students are enrolling in:
– ENSAF in master’s degrees in the following fields: environmental management and sustainable forest management;
– the Higher Institute of Geographical, Environmental and Planning Sciences (ISSGEA) at Denis Sassou Nguesso University in environmental studies.