Each faculty of the University of Mauritius will receive Rs 1 million

Each faculty of the University of Mauritius (UoM) will receive Rs 1 million from the University Research Fund as a proactive measure to make research week a regular activity.

This was stated by the minister of Tertiary Education, Science, Research and Technology, Dr Rajesh Jeetah, on Monday at the opening ceremony of the fourth edition of UoM Research Week which will go on till Friday.

“We have done excellent work as a teaching university over the last 40 years. Now we have to consolidate it as a research university. At the level of my ministry, a number of initiatives have been taken. This isn’t just empty noise. More research conferences are being organised, a Research Alliance and National Research Chairs has been created,” said Jeetah.

The minister added, “We are planning to make PhDs mandatory in order to teach at the university level in the next 10 years.”
Arnaud Carpooran, from the French Studies department of the UoM, said, “This year we have not chosen any specific theme so as to decentralise the approach and involve all faculties.”

UoM vice chancellor Konrad Morgan said that more and more young students are participating in this event every year. “We aim for everybody to get inspired in some way to go forward at the end of research week,” he said.
For Soodursun Jugessur, pro-chancellor of the university, the efforts of researchers should be geared towards making our island green.

“We are strong in modelling projects, but their application is equally important. If we want research to be good, we need feedback, especially from our various departments,” stated Jugessur. The research themes put forward this year by the students involve societal, political, linguistic, health, economic and global issues.