UVCI News

Abidjan, June 12, 2026 – The Virtual University of Côte d’Ivoire (UVCI) and the Cheikh Hamidou Kane Digital University (UN-CHK) of Senegal intend to strengthen their collaboration in order to contribute to the development of African digital solutions tailored to the realities of the continent.

On the sidelines of the General Assembly of the Conference of Rectors of Francophone Universities in Africa and the Indian Ocean, the president of UVCI, Professor Koné Tiémoman, met on Friday, June 12, 2026, the rector of UN-CHK, Professor Samuel Ouya.

Initially planned as a courtesy visit, the meeting quickly turned into a working session focused on prospects for cooperation between the two institutions, recognized as pioneers of digital higher education in Francophone Africa.

During their discussions, the two university leaders emphasized the need to strengthen synergies between their institutions in order to support the digital transformation of African higher education systems.

For Professor Samuel Ouya, the partnership between the two universities is a natural fit.

“The choice of UVCI is naturally explained by the fact that our two institutions are among the pioneering universities in the digital field in Francophone Africa,” he stated.

According to him, the experience gained by the two universities is now attracting the interest of many African countries eager to create their own digital universities.

“As pioneers in this field, we have a duty to pool our expertise and jointly develop models capable of supporting our fellow Africans,” he added.

Discussions also focused on the issue of the continent’s digital sovereignty. The two leaders noted that several African countries remain heavily dependent on technologies developed outside of Africa.

In light of this, they discussed the need to pool their expertise to develop technological solutions tailored to the needs of African nations.

In this vein, the rector of UN-CHK proposed the creation of joint technical teams tasked with designing innovative solutions that could be made available to African countries under open-source licenses.

This approach aims to promote knowledge sharing and strengthen the continent’s technological autonomy.

Following the working session, Professor Samuel Ouya visited several UVCI facilities, notably its Fablab, where various innovative projects are being developed.

This immersion allowed him to discover the technological initiatives implemented by the Ivorian university to address concrete challenges. “ “I was particularly impressed by the achievements I observed in Côte d’Ivoire. I saw a university that provides concrete answers to the needs of the people through innovative solutions,” he said with satisfaction.

The Senegalese rector also praised a model whose certain aspects could inspire initiatives already underway in his country.

For the president of the UVCI, this meeting paves the way for strategic cooperation between two institutions facing similar challenges.

“We face similar challenges, and it is in our best interest to join forces to identify appropriate solutions together,” stated Professor Koné Tiémoman.

According to him, collaboration among African digital universities is a key lever for accelerating innovation and developing responses tailored to the realities of the continent.

The discussions also addressed the issue of funding for digital universities.

Both leaders emphasized the need to diversify funding sources in order to sustainably support digital transformation projects in higher education.

In this context, the development of the university-business partnership model was cited as a promising avenue for strengthening public-private partnerships and fostering the emergence of innovative business models to benefit academic institutions.

This meeting thus marks an important step in strengthening cooperation between UVCI and UN-CHK, with the shared ambition of contributing to the development of a more autonomous, innovative, and resolutely forward-looking African digital ecosystem.