President Ben Ali's Priorities
in the Higher Education Sector  
Excerpts from President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's Program

HIGHER EDUCATION TO BUILD THE SOCIETY OF INTELLIGENCE AND KNOWLEDGE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH : A SUPPORT BASE FOR THE NEW ECONOMY

HIGHER EDUCATION TO BUILD THE SOCIETY OF INTELLIGENCE AND KNOWLEDGE

1. Improving the quality of higher education and bringing it up to international standards,

2. Complete the implementation of the LMD* system by reaching the Doctorate cycle,

3. Promote the system of certification,

4. Move closer to orienting two-thirds of students toward “applied bachelor degrees” by 2014,

5. Double the number of “applied bachelor degrees” by the end of 2014,

6. Create a new generation of trainers specialized in the new “applied bachelor degrees”,

7. Enlarge vocational Master’s programs and diversifying them in partnership with the economic environment,

8. Adopt training contents that meet the needs of the job market and the requirements of quality in all diplomas having an applied and professional dimension,

9. Reinforce the autonomy of universities,

10. Give Humanities sections their due status to serve the national intellectual assets and meet social needs in the various fields they cover,

11. Devote a greater effort to the training of trainers at all cycles of higher education,

12. Reach a higher percentage of joint diplomas between our higher education institutions and their counterparts in developed countries,

13. Providing a parallel virtual education in all specialties and academic levels,

14. Implementing a program for the full digitalization of university libraries all along the coming decade,

15. Reaching the percentage of 18‰ of university graduates in sciences and engineering from the 20-29 age group in 2014, compared to 11.7‰ in 2008,

16. Increasing the number of engineers from among university graduates to reach 9,000 in the 2014 - 2015 academic year,

17. Increasing to 50% the percentage of certified engineering graduates by 2014 ; thereby facilitating their professional integration,

18. Increasing the creation of Schools of Engineering during the next five-year period,

19. Generalizing the internal and external evaluation of higher education and research institutions,

20. Incorporating private higher education within the quality system, and upgrading it in terms of human, material and technological resources,

21. Establish a cultural center on each university campus or university city,

22. Achieve a qualitative leap in university sports,

23. Promote guidance, orientation and social and psychological care within university services,

24. The teacher and the researcher : A central place in the action to promote the system of higher education and scientific research.

1. Increase, once again, the GDP share of scientific research and technology from 1.25% to 1.5% in 2014,

2. Establish three regional poles for scientific research and technological innovation in the North, the Center and the South,

3. Establish sectoral networks for innovation,

4. Enhance the value of the results of scientific research in terms of innovation and production development,

5. Establish a national Internet portal for innovation,

6. Establish a program in each sector to maximize the value of the results of scientific research and encourage competition in this field,

7. Enlarge the scope of the “student-researcher contract”,

8. Develop a plan to establish a quality system in research centers according to international standards,

9. Establish incentive mechanisms to attract Tunisian competences abroad,

10. Train high-level researchers in specialties related to the country’s development priorities,

11. Develop multidisciplinary research programs related to the development strategy, and establish spaces for technology development and creativity,

12. Enter a new phase in the industrial upgrading program, involving the integration of applied research into promising sectors with high added value,

13. Promote Tunisia’s adherence to local and international scientific research and technological innovation networks.

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