Mauritania and France sign agreement to establish National Centre for University Pedagogy

The Mauritanian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research signed an agreement on Friday with the French Embassy to establish and support a National Centre for University Pedagogy in Mauritania. The project will receive funding amounting to €524,000 from the French government.

According to the Mauritanian News Agency (AMI), the centre will be established with support from French cooperation and the University of Caen-Normandy in France, which boasts one of the most prominent support centres in this field. The French cooperation’s financial support for the project, totalling €524,000, will be disbursed over a two-year period.

The University of Caen-Normandy will assist in forming a team specialised in pedagogical engineering, backed by a network of reference teachers that the centre will employ, as per the same source.

The centre’s primary objective is to support educators in developing their professional skills by introducing digital educational tools, electronic platforms, and educational technology.

Additionally, it will offer training, advisory services, assistance, and multimedia productions covering educational design, the creation of educational resources, the development of distance teaching skills, and the use of educational platforms, the AMI reported.

The implementation of the project’s initial steps is slated for 2026, alongside the organisation of a scientific conference aimed at positioning Mauritania as a regional player in the field of university pedagogy.

A diagnostic assessment of the higher education sector revealed a high dropout rate in higher education institutions.

The absence of continuous training for teachers, particularly in the field of university pedagogy, has exacerbated this situation, the source highlighted.

The creation of a framework that enables the continuous strengthening of teachers’ pedagogical skills has become a necessity, the source added.

Emile Durkheim, a renowned sociologist, defined pedagogy as “an applied theory of education that derives its concepts from psychology and sociology”.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​