Emmanuel Macron in Dakar: IMT at the forefront, in response to major training challenges in West Africa

Philippe Jamet, President of IMT, accompanied President Macron, who jointly chaired the Global Partnership for Education Conference in Dakar.

Les responsables de Fablabs d’Afrique de l’Ouest ont appris à animer, de manière autonome, le MOOC "S’initier à la fabrication numérique" de l’IMT.

As President Macron called for more sustained academic collaboration in order to develop (vocational) training programs, a team from IMT Atlantique was dispensing a hybrid training course at the Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique (ESP) in Dakar. The course was designed for heads of Fablabs in Senegal and other countries in West Africa, teaching them how to be autonomous in running IMT’s “Digital Manufacture” MOOC in their Fablabs.

This initiative was set up alongside the French embassy in Dakar and with support from the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation in Senegal, who supervised the launch of the training.

Accord cadre de partenariat entre l'IMT et l’Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique Dakar abritée par l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar

Philippe Jamet signed a partnership framework agreement with the Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique in Dakar, based at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar.

Under this agreement, a specialized Master’s program, “Web Technology and Cybersecurity”, is set to open in September 2018 with support from IMT Atlantique, while another specialized Master’s on launching and financing green economy projects is planned for 2019, with support from Ecole des Mines, Saint-Etienne. Co-organization of one or more degree courses based on IMT’s “Network & Telecoms” MOOCs series is to be studied in the near future.

The ENSIIE, an IMT graduate school, is due to launch a Master’s program on high-performance computing and video games in March 2018, again in partnership with the ESP Dakar.

The IMT delegation in Dakar also took part in the 8th edition of the IT Forum at the Institut Français. Frédérique Vincent, Director of Teaching and International Affairs, participated in the round table discussion entitled “Hybrid education: MOOCs and in-class learning, a solution for Africa?”. This was also an opportunity to continue ongoing discussions with ATOS, Sonatel, Orange, Qwant and companies in the Edtech sector on the future of IMT projects.

These actions are all reinforcing the recently-presented “IMT in Africa” strategy.