The government and partners.
The Faculty of science and technology of the University of Comoros celebrates from Tuesday 7th to Thursday 9th May 2024 its 5th edition of the scientific days. The theme chosen this year is: ‘‘contribution of research and technological innovations, ecological transition, health and economic development of the Comoros’’. The event was sponsored by the ministry of higher education and vocational training, the French embassy in Comoros, ORTC, SONELEC, BDC, Comore telecom, Rooshdy Media, to name but a few. Dr. Amir Aboubacar was the moderator at the opening ceremony. He teaches statistics and mathematics at the French university of Lille. He is also the president of UONI – vision in Comorian language – which is an association created by some professors and researchers of the Comorian scientific diaspora in order to help their country’s origin in terms of science and technology. Some of them attended the event.
Dr. Soulé Hamidou is the dean of the Faculty of science and technology of the University of Comoros located at the corniche campus in Moroni. ‘’This scientific event aims to raise government’s awareness of the importance of research for the development of our country and define the priority areas in terms of scientific research for our faculty,’’ the dean said. The administrator and acting president of the University of Comoros suggests structuring the faculties’ projects with the hierarchical administrations. He thinks that these kinds of events are extremely important to arouse the curiosity of our students in scientific matters. “As Doctoral training is our current priority, we intend to set up a multidisciplinary doctoral school for the 2024-2025 academic years,” he said.
Ludovic khamchane works at the cultural department of the French embassy in Comoros. He reminded the audience that France is the 6th host country for international students. He praised the Faculty of science and technology for its dynamism and claimed that he works daily with them. He supports the idea of setting up a doctoral school for the next academic year. “We must promote all the men and women involved in research at the University of Comoros”, he said.
Dr. Takiddine is the minister of higher education and vocational training. He was thankful for the professors and researchers of the faculty of science and technology for the publication of their scientific researches. In addition, he recommends putting the synergy of their efforts together with the other schools and faculties and development partners for the emergence of the country by 2030. The minister also encourages the students to focus their further researches on the local products such as vanilla, clove, ylang flower, sea creatures, etc. which are all sources of wealth for the country. He claims that adding value to them means creating many jobs for young people.
The dean of the faculty of sciences and technology was the first to make his presentation. He took the opportunity to present the state of research at his faculty. His school consists of three departments: Earth and Environmental Science, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. The students and faculty members work together in 9 research laboratories with few resources, he said. From 11 to 12 a.m. just after the coffee break, the public was invited outside to visit the booths, thematic posters and exchange with local traders. There were about 30 booths at the corniche campus this year.
We had the opportunity to visit booth № 2. It specializes in the process for manufacturing food powder. The students explain that corn, peanut, sweet potato, red bean(nkude in shikomori language)contain a lot of starch that can be harmful as a food for a baby aged between 6 and 12 months. Therefore, we need more time to make sure that the starch has diminished before feeding the babies. The process can last several months, the students argue. They also display aromatic plants for the manufacture of essential oils used in medicine, cosmetics and the food industry. While stand № 3 focuses on juice manufacturing and quality control, booth № 1 specializes on the production of essential oils and water treatment.
We moved to the building that hosts booth № 17. We were welcomed by third-year students in Physics. They displayed a composter of organic materials. The process is pretty simple. “You collect household waste, let them dry during several weeks and mix them with soil by using 1/3 of compost and 2/3 of soil. Then let them dry again in a cool, clean and dry place for a couple of weeks. Then you can plant whatever you want, ‘’ the students explain to us. In order to fight against global warming, our physics laboratory students have their genius ideas. We can recycle household waste by mixing it with animal excrements to produce biogas for cooking and even electricity, they asserted.
Other organizations, traders, schools and NGOs exhibited their know-how in the gardens of the faculty campus. They showed us how recycling tins, cans, boxes, plastic bottles, rubber to build useful trash boxes, model airplanes, cars, houses, toys and other playthings. Mbuweni middle school students in Moroni and madrassa al Sadiq in Bandamadji Itsandra students were among the exhibitors. Ulanga NGO displayed some posters and English books for those who wish to boost their knowledge in scientific English.
Online and face - to - face thematic conferences continued from Tuesday to Wednesday afternoon. The Tuesday conferences and presentations deal with the genetic studies of the Comoros archipelago, the study of infant malnutrition in urban areas(example of Dakar, Senegal), foot and mouth disease on livestock in Anjouan, the problem of invasive exotic plants in Comoros, etc. Most of the presenters hold doctorates or are PhD candidates in overseas universities.
The Wednesday lectures and presentations focused on many and various topics such as rational management of aircraft parking stands (case of the Comorian international airport, AIMPSI), exploratory study of the internet and its impact on economic growth in Comoros, the effects of economic growth due to CO2 emissions in SADC countries, valorization of marine sponges in the Comoros archipelago: exploration of their potential and prospects for sustainable use in the future as medicines, etc.
Needless to remind you those other presentations in posters formats by some students and alumni from the faculty of science and technology from the University of Comoros. Some topics concern mangrove restoration initiatives, drilling techniques to obtain drinking water, plant formations on our islands, the diachronic study of land use in Moroni, the abundance and diversity of invertebrates in coastal villages, etc. Thursday 9th May was dedicated to visiting mount Karthala and a concert took place at the campus in the evening from 6 to 9 p.m.
Twenty 20 years later, the Human Resources of the University of Comoros is having trouble retaining newly trained scholars when overseas colleges offer better wages. God save the University of Comoros!
Chami Mouzawar, contributing writer
