Over 5,000 scholarships awarded over last five years

Maputo, 20 Aug (AIM) – The Mozambique Government has granted, over the last five years, 5,180 scholarships, in the context of expansion of higher education in the country, which currently stands at an average of eight per cent a year.

According to the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Daniel Nivagara, speaking, on Monday, in Maputo, at the opening of a meeting of his Ministry’s Coordinating Council, the scholarships were awarded to help increase access to higher education and to qualify Mozambican staff.

“During 2020-2024, 5,180 scholarships were awarded, of which 442 were for vocational technical education, 3,632 for bachelor’s degrees, 745 for master’s degrees and 361 for doctorates”, he said.

The minister also revealed that, during the same period, 16 new higher education institutions were created in the country, four of which are already functioning.

“Thus, the number of higher education institutions in Mozambique is currently 57, compared to 53 in 2019. With regard to training lecturers in hybrid teaching/educational innovation, 321 lecturers from higher education institutions had been trained throughout the country”, said Nivagara.

The Minister added that the Institutional Development Fund (FDI) has funded a total of 71 projects for higher education institutions, budgeted at about 227.7 million meticais (3.5 million dollars at the current exchange rate).

“Among various objectives, the funding was aimed at providing financial support to higher education institutions in the areas of capacity building and innovation. The goal was also to improve the quality and relevance of teaching through curriculum strengthening, including the expansion of postgraduate programmes”, he said.

According to the minister, with regard to the quality of the courses offered by higher education institutions, a total of 598 courses and programmes had been assessed, of which 537 had been accredited.

“A total of 32 higher education institutions were also assessed, 30 of which were accredited”, he said.

(AIM)

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