Gamal Abdel Nasser University of Conakry (in French ''L'Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry'', UGANC), is the largest university in

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

. It is located in Dixinn Commune,

Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of C ...

, Guinea. The name is generally shortened to the University of Conakry.

History

The university came into being in 1962 as the ''Institut Polytechnique de Conakry'', the first institution of higher education in Guinea, with the assistance of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. It was established during a period of progressive economic development in the country after independence. In 1970, the school's name was changed to the ''Institut Polytechnique Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry'' (IPGAN), after the popular Egyptian President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

. In 1989, it was renamed again, this time to the ''Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry''. In 1965, the separate ''École supérieure d'administration'' was incorporated into the ''Institut Polytechnique''. The university has a campus-wide computer network with a fiber optic backbone and 100BaseT Ethernet cabling as of 2007 along with 1,000 computers for university staff. The

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...

helped set up the network and internet connection. Each faculty provides a computer lab for faculty and students, however the ratio of computers to users is only 1:100. Online university courses are offered. In 2002, the university entrance exam was controversially abolished.

Faculties

The university had 13 schools and faculties, including medicine. It currently has a ''Faculté de Médecine, Pharmacie et Odontostomatologie'' (Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry), with a department for each of the three disciplines: a ''Faculté des Sciences'' (Faculty of Sciences), with biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics departments; a ''Centre d’Etude et de Recherche en Environnement'' (Centre for Study and Environmental Research); a ''Centre Informatique'' (Computing Centre); and an ''Institut Polytechnique'' (Polytechnic Institute), with departments of electrical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, chemical engineering, industrial engineering and maintenance, mechanical engineering and telecommunications. On 21 September 2015, a protocol of agreement was signed in Conakry between Guinea and the

Institut Pasteur The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. T ...

to create the Institut Pasteur of Guinea, which will be an independent department of the University of Conakry. The

Herbier National De Guinée The Herbier National De Guinée (Index Herbariorum Code HNG.) is the national herbarium of the Republic of Guinea. Attached to the Gamal Abdel Nasser University of Conakry it was established in 2009 to house a collection of plant specimens found ...

, the national herbarium of Guinea, is also housed within the university.

Notable alumni

* Fatoumata Barry, Guinea's first woman architect

References

External links

Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry website
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History

Faculties

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links