Higher Education in Senegal: Over $150 Million to Ensure Rapid Integration Into the Job Market

WASHINGTON – The World Bank has approved $150 million in financing to improve the capacity of Senegal’s higher education institutions to produce graduates with skills that match the job market’s needs. The World Bank financing is accompanied by a $1.9 million grant from the Early Learning Partnership (ELP) Multi-Donor Trust Fund.

This support is provided as part of the Senegal Higher Education Project – ESPOIR-JEUNES. It is designed to improve the economic performance of higher education graduates, in line with goals of promoting inclusive growth, shared prosperity, and gender equality in Senegal.

“We are confident that this project will achieve its objectives as it builds on the already satisfactory results achieved by the higher education institution (Institut Supérieur des Etudes Professionnelles – ISEPs) in Thiès, financed by the World Bank. This funding will enable the creation of eight other institutions in regions targeted by the Senegalese government. The appropriate and relevant vocational skills they offer will enable beneficiaries to integrate into the job market rapidly. This project is expected to have a positive impact with – in the short term – the enrollment of over 16,000 students as the first cohorts in the newly-created ISEPs,” said Keiko Miwa, World Bank Country Director for Cabo Verde, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, and Senegal

The eight new ISEPs will be built in regions with different socio-economic profiles.

“These new ISEPs should consider the inherent potential of geographical zones within each region. These range from mining to fruit growing, from fish processing to textiles. The aim is to be able to meet local professional demand,” said Pamela Mulet, World Bank Senior Education Specialist and Lead for the ESPOIR-JEUNES Project.

In addition to creating infrastructure, this project will support ongoing and planned reforms in higher education. It should thus improve the sector’s governance framework while supporting the government of Senegal in its strategic options, in particular widening access to tertiary vocational training programs in the short term while also promoting greater use of information technologies in higher education.