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Tunisia: 'We Have No Other Path Than To Invest in Knowledge, Work and Development', Says President Ben Ali on the Occasion of 'Knowledge Day'
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Tunisia Online (Tunis)
11 July 2008
Posted to the web 14 July 2008
Tunis
"We have no other path than to invest in knowledge, work and development", said President Ben Ali on Friday in an address on the occasion of 'Knowledge Day'. He also announced a set of measures destined to boost training and promote the employability of university diploma holders.
The traditional celebration of 'Knowledge Day' which is destined to pay tribute to the family of education, training and higher education, scientific research and technology, is also an opportunity for the President of the Republic to honor all those who have embraced success and distinction in all fields of school and academic specialization.
In his address, President Ben Ali noted that Tunisia has managed to achieve before the due dates most of the objectives set by UN programs such as 'Education for all' as well as the "Millennium Development Goals" and the "UN Literacy Decade".
President Ben Ali also stressed the need to master a second language, by "adopting the necessary measures to develop languages teaching and to bring the students' acquisitions in this field up to international standards."
Evoking the employability of young people, the Tunisian Head of State, called for "undertaking a thorough revision of school counselling, to avoid thrusting our children into fields of study with limited prospects".
He also announced the creation of "a national body for the assessment of vocational training, to improve the quality of training, and ensure the conformity between the needs of the economic enterprise and the job market".
Insofar as the sector of higher education, scientific research and technology is concerned, President Ben Ali announced the launch as of 2009 of the second phase of the LMD reform , concerning the gradual conversion of all Tunisian university diplomas into Bachelor, Masters and PhD degrees. The reform which was implemented 3 years ago, has now reached the Masters degree level. He added that "between 2006 and 2008 some 990 new Licenses (Bachelor degree programs) had been approved in public tertiary institutions, against 294 in private institution".
President Ben Ali also noted with satisfaction that applied Licenses now represent 70% of professional Licenses and announced the promotion of further training programs in promising fields, which will enable the acquisition of new technologies likely to increase the professional competence of higher education diploma holders, through coordination between the Ministry of higher education, scientific research and technology and the 21-21 Fund.
He also announced that "measures will be taken to increase the training capacity of preparatory schools for engineering studies and to allow holders of scientific and technological Maitrise diploma holders to gain admission to gain admission into engineering schools according to specific conditions and criteria".
Research laboratories will also be "reorganized to ensure their conformity with national research priorities and their openness on the international environment" said President Ben Ali, adding that technological poles will also be "restructured to promote partnership between the public and private sector and by creating management companies with the participation of banks and concerned institutions".
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President Ben Ali also endeavoured "to further promote the openness of research institutions on their economic environment, by taking the legislative steps of converting them into public institutions endowed with a scientific and technological character, in accordance with the criteria to be set up for that purpose".
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