ACTION COMPLETED: PROPOSED SUPPORT TO METHODIST

UNCLAS ABIDJAN 000918 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE PASS TO USAID/DCHA; ACCRA PASS TO USAID/WARP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASCH IV SUBJECT: ACTION COMPLETED: PROPOSED SUPPORT TO METHODIST UNIVERSITY OF COTE D'IVOIRE REF: STATE 114286 ¶1. (SBU) Post completed the action requested in reftel. Poloff visited the Methodist University of Cote d'Ivoire (UMCI) on August 21 and met with university rector and members of the university's Council for Education and Training (CEI). UMCI is a small institution and is only in its second year of operation. There were a total of 90 students enrolled at the university in the academic year that ended in August 2007. Administrators estimate that there will be at least 300 students enrolled for the second year of operation. ¶2. (SBU) UMCI currently offers two courses of study -- economic sciences and legal studies. For the moment, UMCI uses classroom space in the primary and secondary school that the Methodists operate. The primary and secondary school programs at this location have been operating since 1990 and 1983 respectively. UMCI has 31 professors split equally between the faculties of economic sciences and law. The board emphasized that the school recruits staff from other universities in the area and requires a doctoral degree as minimum qualification. The cost per year for UMCI is comparable to other private universities at 650,000 FCFA (approx. 1337 USD). (Note: The CEI compared UMCI to the larger and more established and prestigious Catholic University of Cote D'Ivoire which costs approx 1550 USD per year. End Note) ¶3. (SBU) Currently UMCI is financed using the students' tuition fees and it has no other donors. Since they have not begun capital improvements, the administration says that they are able to cover their current operating costs but the costs of renovations and capital investments far exceed the income they can recoup from tuition fees. The CEI noted that they would like to expand their program and roughly estimate that they will have at least 300 students enrolled during the school's second year of operation. They would like to renovate an existing building (formerly used for the Methodist secondary school) to house a library, computer center and a teachers' conference room as well as additional classroom and office space. They will then add floors to a single story building in order to accommodate the elementary and secondary school students. Poloff toured the facilities and saw the buildings in question. The buildings are old and in disrepair but functional. The university currently uses 5-6 classrooms for their courses but officials note that space was tight for the 90 students that attended during the first year of operation. The CEI provided Poloff with a copy of the renovation plan and budget from the architectural firm they hired. The plan details a USD 1.6 million project. The CEI says they have no other sources of revenue at this time. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: The UMCI demonstrates enormous will in establishing a new university in a market where public universities are essentially free. The administrators are keen to keep the cost of attendance low compared to other private universities. While the school's mission does not explicitly promote American values, the school is open to students regardless of religious or ethnic background, political affiliation or national origin. The economics students are learning about free-market economics and the law students are learning about the fundamentals of a free and fair judicial system. That being said, Post has some concerns about the institution's ability to sustain itself given the university's very short record of operation. Moreover, the CEI has said that the university has no other potential donors which leaves a large gap between the USD 200,000 requested in the project proposal and the USD 1.6 million estimate provided by the architectural contractor. End Comment. AKUETTEH