IVORY COAST: The Centre for Electricity Jobs (CME) achieves a 98% success rate in the 2018 Electrical Engineering degree course

The CME’s second class to graduate from the Electrical Engineering degree course achieved a 98% success rate.

The diploma ceremony took place at CME in Bingerville, in the Ivory Coast, on 24th November

The Centre for Electricity Jobs’ second class to graduate from the Electrical Engineering degree course achieved a 98% success rate. The diploma ceremony took place on 24th November. This result, compared to the national average of 57%, is really satisfying and encouraging. It follows on from a 95% success rate that was already achieved in 2017.

In 2015, CME relaunched its Electrical Engineering degree course, working together with companies from the Ivory Coast’s electricity and industrial sectors. CME is located in Bingerville, in the Autonomous region of Abidjan, and is managed by the Ivory Coast Electricity Company (CIE), a subsidiary of the pan-African industrial group Eranove. This project received support from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS).

The goal is to respond to the lack of technicians in a sector that is growing, but that does not have enough qualified workers.

CME’s promise: “100% of our graduates will be recruited”. This promise is about to be fulfilled, as 6 months later, 71% of those who graduated from the first class have been recruited by companies. The good exam results and the prospect of professional placement have had a positive effect on the number of girls in these courses. In 2017, the first class was 16% female, and in 2018, it was 20%. This is a significant amount for a technological course, as, for example, in France, these courses are only 2% female.

Driven by this increasing success, CME opened a degree course in “Industrial Maintenance” in September 2017, and one in Industrial Refrigeration and HVAC Engineering in September 2018, as well as six professional degrees that allow you to get a French degree in the Ivory Coast, and another in e-learning. One of the professional degrees is run in partnership with the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (CNAM). Starting in January 2019, CME will welcome 310 students into its degree class and 100 more into the professional degree course.

The French European and Foreign Affairs Minister welcomed the CIE initiative at the launch of the France-Ivory Coast Education Hub, which took place in Yamoussoukro on 18th October 2018, and was attended by the First Minister, Mr Gon Coulibaly. The initiative is run in partnership with CNAM-CME.

“…This France-Ivory Coast Education Hub is a very original project. It will allow some 50 partnerships that have been built by higher education institutions to come together and establish a network…These partnerships make it possible, for example, for a student from the Centre for Electricity Jobs in Bingerville to complete both a professional French degree and a professional Ivory Coast degree at the same time…” Extract from a speech by Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French European and Foreign Affairs Minister.

CME is also going international by enrolling students from Nigeria and Central Africa for the 2018-2019 academic year. These students will then be recruited and employed by the national companies NIGELEC and ENERCA respectively.

In addition to the third-level degree courses, CME offers a complete range of advanced training for professionals from the African industrial sector

 

ABOUT CME

The Centre for Electricity Jobs (CME) is a centre of excellence in training that was created on 6th March 1970. Its main activities include: training in the fields of electricity and management. CME earned RH Excellence certification and was named a “centre of excellence” by the Association of African Electrical Companies (ASEA). It is also the only centre to have earned SERECT certification for Type A Live Low Voltage work.

Alongside advanced training, CME also offers degree-level training courses that are endorsed for degrees such as the Technical Training Degree. In 2016, outside of the degree courses, 6765 colleagues undertook advanced training and 220 professionals undertook basic training.

www.cme.ci

 

ABOUT CIE

The Ivory Coast Electricity Company is a private company that is 55.53% owned by Eranove. CIE is linked to the Ivory Coast’s government by a concession agreement that was signed in 1990 and renewed in 2005 for 15 years.

CIE, in the context of its public service role, undertakes the following work:

  • Electricity production: CIE uses electricity production facilities that belong to the Ivory Coast’s government (604 MW hydroelectric, 100MW thermal)
  • Management of transport, distribution and dispatching networks: CIE uses transport, electricity distribution and energy flow facilities that belong to the Ivory Coast’s government (~50 000 km of electrical network)
  • Customer relations: CIE maintains relations with 1.9 million customers, individual consumers and electricity professionals
  • Public lighting: 467 549 homes illuminated
  • Electricity export: to Ghana, Togo, Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso and Liberia
  • Management of the energy sector’s cash flow by role

www.cie.ci