Congo (Université Marien Ngouabi) Education: A Training Center for ICT at Marien Ngouabi University

The Congolese government, through the CAB-CIT project, the Regulatory Agency Post and Electronic Communications (ARPCE) and the World Bank are to provide the Marien-Ngouabi University, specifically the upper Polytechnic National School (NPHS) an educational and technological research in the field of telecommunications and ICT tool.

The innovation in telecommunications services (WELL) University Project: thus is called the center opened this morning in the grounds of the NPHS, during a sponsored by the Minister in charge of Telecommunications ceremony and Post, Thierry Moungalla, with the rector of the University Marien-Ngouabi, the World Bank representative in Congo, representatives of the Ministry of Higher Education and the Director General of ARPCE.

Initiated by ARPCE the WELL is intended as a platform for exchange between academia and the professional world, but also an incubation center for students of the University Marien-Ngouabi in the telecommunications and ICT sectors. The project financed by the World Bank, with the support of the ARPCE project was conducted by the CAB-CIT project for about 186 million FCFA.
“This project constitutes a modern digital platform will enable the university to have an educational and technological research tool for students to enjoy a comfortable study environment and equipped with Internet access, the professionals enjoy a part of capacity building of technical staff, “said the coordinator of the CAB-CIT project, Luc Missidimbazi.
The WELL is a set of infrastructure starting from a building with several rooms with modern working tools. Essentially, it’s about 12 seats for the course for a modern office teacher, high definition and 3D and a modern interactive whiteboard installed in the classroom projector. The media room has 18 student positions with interconnected to the server room with access to the Internet via fiber flat screens. Students will receive finger modern technology, thanks to telecommunications laboratory, with several trays which we note a bay containing a fiber optic drawer, Cisco routers and switches …

The University Marien-Ngouabi connected to the optical fiber
Through this project, the University Marien-Ngouabi is now connected to high speed through the involvement of Congo Telecom, the public telecommunications operator. A rate of 100 megabits was awarded to the university and Internet coverage across the site, thanks to wifi points installed in huts of WELL. At the inauguration of the site, students have with their laptops to connect to high speed with pleasure. In the classroom, students have experienced e-learning with satisfactory Internet speeds.

The WELL is the result of an agreement signed in May 2013 between the University and ARPCE Marien-Ngouabi, to enable students and master students finalists in telecommunications, to participate in various projects in the ICT sector and telecommunications. To realize the project, which for three years allowed the ARPCE receive internship students from the NPHS, the WELL, whose work began Aug. 21, 2013, has emerged. “It’s a feeling of satisfaction for the execution of an important project for young students, researchers and students who engage in high-level training. A framework that is consistent with what is expected in the 21st century in all countries that want emerging, “said Thierry Moungalla.
Platform including a management agreement was signed on the same day between ARPCE and the University Marien-Ngouabi will surely quench the thirst of an entire generation of Congolese in terms of training in the ICT sector and to get them to cope with the demands of a job market increasingly competitive. “Through this program and other initiatives to come, we hope to gradually reduce the deficit by Congolese qualified human resources that can be observed in the ICT sector in Congo,” said Yves Castanou, CEO of ARPCE .
For the president of the University Marien-Ngouabi, Professor Armand Moyikoua, “The completion of this project is interpreted as a step in the realization of the irreversible opening of our university to the world of work, with a view optimize their resources and respond more effectively to the needs of society