Lubumbashi University

University of Lubumbashi ; Université de Lubumbashi
motto	Scientia Splendet et Conscientia
founding	1955
Sponsorship	state
place	Lubumbashi
country	Democratic Republic of Congo
Students	21,683 (2020)
Employee	1566 (2020)
Website	www.unilu.ac.cd

The University of Lubumbashi ( Université de Lubumbashi in French ), mainly known by the acronym UNILU , is one of the oldest universities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . It is located in Lubumbashi , the former Elisabethville or Elisabethstad.

history

The university was founded on the basis of the Décret Royal Belge of October 26, 1955 in the same year by the Belgian colonial administration with the support of the Université de Liège as Université officielle du Congo et du Rwanda-Urundi . As early as 1956, it began its university operations through another décret on May 15.

In 1960 her name was changed to Université d'État d'Élisabethville , in 1963 to Université officielle du Congo in the independent Congo and Zaire , the names were then renamed Université nationale du Congo / Campus de Lubumbashi and Université nationale du Zaïre / Campus de Lubumbashi . Finally, the university was given its current name in 1981 on the basis of Ordonnance Présidentielle n ° 81/143 of October 3, 1981.

The engineering faculty was established in 1960. Here graduates were awarded civil engineer diplomas in the fields of mining , chemistry , metallurgy and electrical engineering . After the loss of cooperation partners in 1990, the department increasingly suffered from outdated equipment and growing development gap to relevant economic sectors.

The Lubumbashi Herbarium in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences suffered significant losses and destruction in its collections during the country's political instability in 1990 and 1991. Since the revival of mining in the Katanga region from 2000, international scientific cooperation has improved again. The collaboration with the Meise Botanical Garden in Belgium had a beneficial effect on repairing the damage.

Since 2008, teaching at the Faculty of Engineering has seen positive development. A building renovation and investments in the technical equipment of the teaching company around 2012 have improved the conditions significantly since then.

At the beginning of 2017, students publicly expressed their incomprehension that they had no way of paying their tuition fees quickly. Queues formed in front of the paying offices and some students had to wait for a call for payment. The university's financial management was based on outdated systems that did not allow for quick electronic transfers at the time.

From April 27-30 , 2017, a delegation from the University of Liège, Belgian business and consular representatives and the UNILU university management held a working meeting in Lubumbashi, during which the revitalization of university cooperation was discussed with a view to future projects. The Agriculture Department was an important part of the program .

In May 2019, a strike by university lecturers was threatened, but withdrawn after some demands were met. The professors demanded the redemption of additional payments five months in arrears and the payment of a further deficit from the 2017-2018 academic year.

In the second half of 2019, there were strike actions from among the university staff members organized in the Association du corps académique et scientifique de l'Université de Lubumbashi (ACASUL). The demands raised were directed at overdue monetary payments and questions of the university democracy or on elections to be brought about in the committees.

Statistical data

In 2007 the university had 20,898 students and 769 employees. In 2011–2012 there were 26,416 students and 923 employees. In 2020, 21,683 students and 1,566 teachers ( enseignants ) are given.

Faculties

In addition to its central administration and technical services, the university is divided into 16 departments ( Facultés ) and 4 colleges ( Écoles supérieures ). The departments are:

architecture

Ecole Supérieure des Ingénieurs Industriels (ESI; German for example: "College of Industrial Engineers ")

Engineering

law

Criminology

Agriculture

Literature and humanities

medicine

Natural sciences (chemistry, geography, geology, mathematics, computer science)

Public health care

pharmacy

Psychology and pedagogy

Social sciences

Tourism and hotel industry

Veterinary medicine

Economics and Management

campus

The campus is in the north of the city, west of Lubumbashi Airport .

The structural condition of the UNILU campus had deteriorated considerably since the 1980s due to severe neglect. Around 1990 the personnel structure was also in an unfavorable situation due to poor pay. Those who were able to do so organized an additional income outside of everyday university life through private services.