Table 14.-Number of students in postsecondary education, by institution: 1962-63

and 1963-64

means that source indicated there were no students. means that source did not list institution]

Source of Data: (1) for 1962-63: République du Congo.

Gouvernement Central. Ministère de l'Education Nationale, 5ème Direction. L'Education Nationale en 1962-Conjoncture et Problèmes. Leopoldville: 1er Avril 1963. p. 4. Processed. (2) for 1963-64: République Démocratique du Congo. Ministère de l'Education Nationale et des Affaires Culturelles. 4me Direction. Services Pédagogiques. Statistiques Scolaires-1963-1964, p. 105.

1 Estimated on basis of data given in various other sources.

2 Source gave no figure.

Also known as L'Institut Saint-Jérôme de' Elisabethville.

4 This is the section for régents in the Lycée du Sacré-Coeur, Leopoldville.

Other sources indicated that the total number of students was 107 or 114, all Congolese.

This figure probably excludes students in the preparatory course, which, according to another source, had 60 students.

taken together are offering this type of education in an impressive range of fields: agriculture, business education, civil engineering, economics and social sciences, engineering, law, mining, pharmacy, public administration, and teaching. In association with these fields. they are offering various preparatory or upper secondary level courses. Some of the new programs on postsecondary level, like those at the secondary level, reflect an effort to adapt teaching to the country's requirements.

Tendency Toward Separate Institutions

Some observers might question one striking aspect of the recent higher education developments: the tendency to establish a number of separate institutions. These observers would argue that in the interest of economy and of prestige for vocational programs, developing countries should make every effort to build up, not many separate

institutions of higher education, but rather a few that would bring under their aegis a range of programs-both traditional universitydegree courses and others.

Student Distribution by Field

The distribution of students by field of study raises a question as to whether the higher education institutions were training adequate numbers of students in fields most useful to the Congo. The following tabulation shows the number of students officially reported as enrolled in Congolese higher education during 1962-63, by faculty or field of study: 32

Of the total 1,531 students in postsecondary-level courses, 336 (22 percent) were studying social, economic, and political sciences; but only 196 (below 13 percent) medicine, 90 (below 6 percent) engineering, and 41 (below 3 percent) agriculture.

Statistical data are insufficiently detailed to reveal the total number of Congolese who had completed first-degree or comparable courses by the end of 1964 in different fields of study or who might be expected to complete such courses within the next few years. The tabulation below shows, by field, (1) the actual number of Congolese who completed first-degree courses at Lovanium University by the end of 1963 and (2) either the actual number or the estimated maximum number of Congolese enrolled in 1963–64 at the four largest higher education institutions 33 who might complete first-degree or comparable courses in the next few years: 34

According to the article, the Ministry of National Education provided

Lovanium University, the Official University of the Congo at Elisabethville, the National School of Law and Administration, and the National Pedagogical Institute.

34 The tabulation merely suggests a possible future distribution of postsecondary Con

1 At Lovanium. 14 in degree course and 19 in diploma course. 1 Estimated.

Figure includes 78 Congolese at Lovanium University who were actually studying for the doctorate in medicine.

In addition to the Congolese postsecondary students counted above in the country's own institutions, others have completed or will complete postsecondary courses abroad. In 1963, for example, 55 newly qualified Congolese doctors returned to the Congo from France.

206-185 O-66-13

U

National Institute of Political Studies

NLIKE the Congo's new postsecondary schools, the National Institute of Political Studies (L'Institut National d'Etudes Politiques)1 seems to belong in the broad category of adult education. It has a very specific objective, however: to provide information and training on political, social, and economic problems, particularly to persons already active in political and social organizations and government administration.

Pursuing this objective, the institute gives evening courses in Leopoldville and correspondence courses in its affiliated "sections" outside Leopoldville. It maintains a library in Leopoldville that specializes in publications on the Congo, Africa, and Congolese development problems, as well as on economics and political and social sciences. It publishes a bimonthly bulletin; and together with the Center of Socio-Political Research and Information (Le Centre de Recherche et d'Information Socio-Politiques, known by its initials C.R.I.S.P.) located in Brussels, with which it is affiliated, publishes the periodical Etudes Congolaises. This publication carries comprehensive articles on a variety of subjects, including higher education; bibliographies on current publications dealing with the Congo and Africa; and reproductions of public documents concerning the Congo.

The Institute's Development

Looking forward to meeting the needs of a newly freed state, the National Institute of Political Studies was created a few months before the Congo's independence. At the end of 1959 when it became certain that the Congo would gain its independence, several Congolese leaders of different social and political organizations recognized the need to start training political leaders and staff. Meeting at the January 1960 roundtable discussion in Brussels, this group decided that on their

1 Until 1962 known as the Congolese Political Institute (Institut Politique Congolais).

return to the Congo they would organize a political institute with the objective of—

.. developing in the Congo teaching of quality on the problems relating to the administration of an independent state and providing to political leaders documentation on all the political, social, and economic problems.❜

On February 25, 1960, an administrative council was created for the institute. Given by professors from the University of Liège in Belgium, Lovanium University, and the official social school at Leopoldville and attended by 120 students, the first courses took place evenings from March until June 20, 1960, 10 days before independence. For 6 months after independence and as a result of the insecurity prevailing in Leopoldville, the institute ceased all its activities except those of the library; but early in 1961 it initiated an extended program: It expanded its library, renewed its training program in Leopoldville, and established sections in other cities of the Congo.

In each of the Congo's first 4 postindependence years the institute has received Ford Foundation assistance in developing its program. As of September 30, 1964, the Foundation had granted $197,000 to the Center of Socio-Political Research and Information in Brussels for the "training institute for Congolese leaders."

The Institute's Evening Courses

in Leopoldville

During each of its first two sessions, April-June 1960 and JanuaryJuly 1961, the institute offered an evening course of general training in political, social, and economic matters. The 1961 course covered the following subjects: economic structures of the Congo, juridical organization of the Congo, money and public finance, political institutions of Africa, political theories and economic doctrines, and principles of civil law. Some 120 adults, mostly political party leaders or government employees, attended the 1960 course and 40 the 1961

course.

In 1961-62 the program of studies changed in order to concentrate on new objectives of more precise and specialized training, made possible by the success of the National School of Law and Administration in the field of general training. The institute's new program was designed for persons confronted with concrete political, economic, and cultural problems. Together with teachers and specialists, such persons would study the theoretical and practical aspects of their problems and possible solutions for them.

Institut Politique Congolais. Leopoldville: The Institute, 1962.

3 Ibid.