The Ecole des Ponts accompanies higher education institutions in in fast growing economy countries in the world, in order to: Improve the quality of training and its relevance to the labour market and society; Improve the level of competences and skills by developing or modernizing curricula; Strengthen management, governance and innovation capacities, as well as the internationalization of institutions, factors of sustainability.
In Africa more than anywhere else, the urban, economic, environmental and demographic challenges and the need for human capital development require specific framework of cooperation with local higher education institutions: "capacity development" programs, setting up trainings of excellence, improvement of research methods and research practice...
In this context, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées is committed to supporting the National Polytechnic Institute Houphouët-Boigny (Yamoussoukro and Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire), in developing training expertise in transport and urban planning, with the support of the World Bank. This operation is part of the Project to Support the Competitiveness of the Greater Abidjan Agglomeration.
In 2019, the 7-year cooperation started with the signing of an agreement between the two higher education institutions. The first realization of this collaboration was the creation of a Professional Master in Transport and Urban Planning dedicated to all professionals and stakeholders of urban transport sector. This program is jointly designed by the two institutions, and in close collaboration with sector operators and Ivorian public authorities. An exchange of good practices program between teachers and researchers contributes to developing the capacities of both schools teaching staffs. This capacity development program will lead Ivorian teams to autonomy by 2025.
Beyond this specific action, the objective is to formalize and transfer specific knowledge and skills in Master-level trainings design, which includes the contribution of industrial partners.
The first promotion of the Professional Master in Transport and Urban Planning started in January 2020. It is only the first achievement of the long-term collaboration in which the two HEIs are engaged.
Many other projects are being studied: student and doctoral mobility through the Erasmus + program, new programs design, scientific cooperation and research support. The École nationale des ponts et chaussées wishes to explore all these types of partnerships, to support the development of this world-famous academic global player renowned for the quality of its trainings and to learn from it.
Furthermore, this global approach responds to two challenges: