Seychelles, Umea University renew ties |18 October 2006

The MoU was initiated to encourage students from the School of Business Studies of the Seychelles Polytechnic to study for their masters at the Swedish university.

The renewed agreement, signed at the Ministry of Education’s headquarters on Monday by the principal secretary for Education, Jeanne Simeon, and the Dean of Umea, Agneta Marell, has now expanded to other schools and departments of the Ministry of Education.

This means that other students, teachers and in-service personnel from departments other than the School of Business Studies are now eligible to benefit from studying in Umea.

The newly signed MoU, which will go on for an additional three years, is offering to enroll students for degree courses as well as at post-graduate level.

This expansion of the scope of cooperation between the two partners will also encourage cultural exchanges between the schooling institutions of the two countries, as well as professional development of staff of the Ministry of Education, which will in return facilitate research work to be done here by students from Umea University.  

Speaking after the signing ceremony, Mrs Simeon said that the prolongation of the MoU is very welcome “especially since it is now expanding to other avenues”.

Ms Marell said that the exchanges have been “of high quality and very fruitful” to both parties so far.

Speaking to the media afterwards, the director of Advanced Learning in the Ministry of Education, Anne Lafortune, noted that the exchanges between Umea University and the ministry have so far been in the cultural field and with the School for the Exceptional Child, with only one student from the School of Business Studies having been to the university to this point.

Asked if language was a barrier, Mrs Lafortune explained that all courses offered by the university are in the English language, and that it was rather because it was offering only post-graduate courses in the field of business studies before that prevented more students from studying over there. 

She also said they are proposing that researches done here by students from Umea are along the line of eco-tourism, so that Seychelles too can benefit from the resulting discovery.

Also present at the signing of the MoU on Monday were the Honorary Consul for Sweden in Seychelles, Lennart Swenson; the director of the Seychelles Polytechnic, Audrey Nanon; and the director for International Training, Loveth Legaie.