The ESP and the EPFL welcomed the Federal Councillor Cassis in Dakar
© 2021 EPFL
Federal Councillor Cassis’ official trip to West Africa culminated with a visit to the MOOC studios of the Ecole Superieure Polytechnique (ESP) in Dakar on the 12th of February 2021. Olivier Kuttel and Jérôme Chenal, representing the EPFL, were present to welcome the Swiss Delegation as these studios are the fruit of a partnership between the two Schools. It illustrates EPFL’s policy of promoting digital education and technology in Africa.
Dakar was the penultimate stop of the Swiss delegation in West Africa. It provided an opportunity to visit the MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) studios of the ESP (Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique) together with the EPFL. These studios are resulted of a longstanding collaboration since 2014, through the Réseau d'Excellence des sciences de l'ingénieur de la Francophonie (RESCIF) and the MOOC4Africa programme. The latter has become the ‘Excellence in Africa’ initiative. These programmes enabled ESP to develop digital education skills which it can be proud of today. The Federal Councillor was able to briefly put himself in the shoes of a lecturer preparing his MOOCs in ESP’s recording studio.
In the welcome address, Fallou Mbacke Sambe, the director of the Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique, , together with the rector of the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, presented his close ties with Switzerland as he knows the Lausanne area well. Indeed, he obtained a PhD in rural engineering in 1997 at the EPFL. He highlighted the partnership with the EPFL, in particular the development of competencies in distance learning between 2014 and 2019. He further noted that the global health situation has accentuated and accelerated the need to offer online courses. The director of ESP emphasised and praised this innovative collaboration.
Olivier Kuttel, the Head of International Affairs, noted that "the work of the EPFL finds an important echo here since, without being premeditated, we are aligned with the parliament’s message and with Switzerland's new strategy for Africa, which puts the focus on digital". For Jérôme Chenal, Director of Excellence in Africa, "this confirms our hypotheses to bet on excellence, digital and people", as illustrated by the presence of the Director of the ESP, a former student of the EPFL.