10 January 2008
Maputo — 48 Mozambican students are about to depart for Brazil, to take masters degrees and doctorates in scientific areas regarded as strategic for Mozambique's development.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Venancio Massingue, announced this on Wednesday, at a ceremony where he and Brazilian ambassador Leda Camargo launched a five year programme of scientific scholarships, which forms part of the Brazilian government's "Africa Initiative".
"The students selected are our ambassadors of science and technology in Brazil", said Massingue. "They should bring us dignity because the government has already taken science and technology as instruments of great importance to stimulate development".
Camargo declared that the idea behind the scholarships "is that our support will allow the beneficiaries to return to Mozambique and use the knowledge they have acquired in actions of development".
The courses are in various Brazilian public universities in such areas as biotechnology, molecular biology, forestry engineering, water resources and oceanography and public health.
The students have been recruited from several Mozambican ministries (notably the agriculture and health ministries) and from the staff of Mozambican public universities. Their studies in Brazil are among the fruits of a cooperation protocol signed during President Armando Guebuza's visit to Brazil last September.
Massingue said the scholarships were among the actions taken to implement the human resources development plan for science and technology. By 2025 it is hoped that over 6,500 Mozambican researchers will have been trained in priority areas of the country's Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy.
The government, he stressed, wanted more highly trained personnel available to work throughout the country, thus overcoming Mozambique's current skills gap.
From now until 2012 about 50 Mozambican students a year will study higher level courses in Brazil. Those taking masters degrees will stay in Brazil for an average of two years, while the doctorates are expected to take four years.
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