The first cohort of students who have been following courses at the university of Seychelles will graduate at the end of November. President James A Michel remarked in the Meeting the President broadcast on Sunday evening that the coming graduation would represent a “remarkable accomplishment for small Seychelles”.

“I believe this sense of pride and accomplishment is not only being felt by me but by the people of Seychelles as a whole,” noted the President.
Mr Michel made these remarks when asked to comment on the fact that this coming November the first batch of students who have been following courses at the University of Seychelles (UniSey) will graduate.

The President pointed out that with the level and rate of development the country is undergoing, we have to educate as many of our young people as we can for them to take key positions available and will continue to be available in the future.
“With the advent of faster communications now that Seychelles has just been connected to fibre optic cable, the country has the platform to double the level of development in future and all this will need qualified people in different areas,”  the President said.

Mr Michel pointed out that over the past 10 years around 1125 Seychellois students have studied at different universities around the world and this had cost the country around R600,000 per student.

He said now with our own university, the country will make some savings which will go towards the cost of training more young Seychellois at university level locally.

“My vision, though a little ambitious but not impossible, is to one day have one university graduate in every Seychellois household,” said the President.

President Michel said it is time to dispel and correct the perception that only students who are not academically gifted follow technical courses.

He noted that academically gifted students can also follow technical courses and Seychelles have the necessary infrastructure for that.

Mr Michel said we should continue to develop and improve our vocational institutions to raise the courses and training they offer to university level so as to encourage students to aim for the highest possible level if they have the ability.

“Our young people need a lot of support and should be properly guided and encouraged as much as possible to pursue their education to the highest level,” the President stressed.

He said starting at home, parents should inculcate in their children the love to study and the  importance of having a good education.

He stressed that at school teachers should intensify what the parents have started and properly guide the students to make the right study and career choices.

“If we are aiming towards becoming a country of excellence in the region, there is no price that can be attached to education and training given to our young people,” added the President.

President Michel recalled in the past when we were told that Seychelles was too small to have a university. He also recalled how some people laughed off the idea when he announced the initiative. But he noted that the important thing at that time was that the majority of the people of Seychelles supported the project.

“The people in its majority rallied behind me and realised that it was a good thing for Seychelles and I was passionate by the idea because I firmly believe in the future of the Seychellois youth and the youth is the future of a country,” said the President.

He pointed out that all who believe in the project have together worked hard to make it a reality and today we are proud of our achievements.

“Today we have a university which is internationally recognised with its main partner being the University of London but it also has partnership with other universities which are helping us run different internationally recognised diploma courses and for a small country like Seychelles this is a great achievement,” the President said.