At the end of April a delegation from the Gabon Ministry for Technical Education and Vocational Training signed three project contracts at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Department of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering in Biel for their planned collaboration. The first students from Gabon will commence their studies in Biel in autumn 2011.

 

Last autumn the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BUAS) signed the basic agreement on the collaboration between the department of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering at the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BUAS) and the Republic of Gabon in the presence of state president Ali Bongo Ondimba and Bernhard Pulver, member of the Bern canton executive council. Now a delegation led by the Minister for Technical Education and Vocational Training, Madame Célestine Bâ Oguewa, has travelled to Switzerland and signed three project agreements.

 

With two thirds of its surface area covered by forest, Gabon is one of the richest states in Africa when it comes to raw materials. It is building up its professional processing of this resource of wood with the help of BUAS specialists.  The collaboration is concentrated on three sub-areas: the further training of teaching staff from Gabon, the education of students within the programmes of the BUAS and the provision of local support by experts from the BUAS.

 

Further training of Gabonese teaching staff
In autumn 2011 ten Gabonese teaching staff commenced their further training with their first module in Biel. They currently teach in the existing educational courses in the field of wood. The planned switch from a school system to a dual education system, in which studies take place not just in school, but also in businesses, will lead to a change in what is required of the teaching staff. They will be prepared for these new challenges by means of a specially developed Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA).

 

Gabonese students on engineering courses
Also in autumn 2011 six school leavers from Gabon started their studies in Switzerland. They are preparing themselves for the course in Wood Engineering with a one-year pre-study practical placement in the training workshops in Bern. After this pre-study placement the BUAS will integrate them into the regular course for the Bachelor of Science in Wood Engineering in Biel. In spring 2012 a further six school leavers will start a six-month practical placement in a teaching workshop in French-speaking Switzerland and from autumn 2012 they will be attending the Higher Technical School (HF) Wood Biel, which is affiliated to the BUAS.

 

Local support

A member of staff from the Bern University of Applied Sciences will be permanently employed in Gabon to assist with the introduction of the dual vocational training system. Together with other specialists from the BUAS, he will assist with the implementation of the various parts of the programme on site. The plan is to adapt the courses in Gabon to the Swiss model of vocational training, but also in a further step to set up courses modelled on the Higher Technical School course or the Bachelor’s course in wood technology.

 

Long tradition of projects in Africa

The collaboration with Gabon fits into a series of projects in Africa. In Nigeria a recycling project is currently in progress in which investigations are being carried out into how agricultural waste can be processed to make building slabs. In Ghana there has been collaboration for many years on the reorganisation of a large higher technical school. Also in Ghana, as part of a research project, experts of the BUAS analysed types of wood in order to promote the construction of light footbridges with less familiar types of wood, and so to counteract the deforestation of the types of wood that are most frequently used.

 

 

Madame le Ministre Célestine Bâ Oguewa and Heinz Müller, Director of the department of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering at the Bern University of Applied Sciences sign, the project agreements.