| University of Kinshasa | |
|---|---|
| Université de Kinshasa | |
| Motto | Scientia Splendet et Conscientia Latin: "Science shines and so does conscience" |
| Established | 1954 |
| Type | Public |
| Rector | Lututala Mumpasi |
| Academic staff | 1,530[1] |
| Students | 26,186 [1] |
| Location | Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Colours | Red, Yellow and Blue |
| Website | www.unikin.cd |
The University of Kinshasa (French, Université de Kinshasa), was one of three universities, along with University of Kisangani and University of Lubumbashi, created following the division of the National University of Zaire (UNAZA). It is located in Kinshasa.
The university had an enrollment of 26,186 and a faculty and research staff of 1,530 in the 2006-2007 academic year,[1] and currently has ten academic divisions.[2]
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The university is located about 15 kilometers south of downtown Kinshasa, in the suburb of Lemba.
Many of the campus facilities have deteriorated and are in poor condition, or lack proper instructional tools - in 2003, the science library had as few as 300 titles in its collection. Since 2001, the university has hosted Cisco Academy, a joint project sponsored by the American software company Cisco and the United Nations Development Programme. The academy focuses on providing high-tech training students to install and operate computer networks and all coursework is online.[3]
The university was established in 1954 as the University of Lovanium by Belgian colonial authorities following criticism that they had done too little to educate the Congolese people. The university was originally affiliated with the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. When it opened, the university received heavy subsidies from the colonial government [4] and funding from the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development and was lauded as the best university in Africa.[5]
In August 1971, the university was merged with the Protestant Autonomous University of Congo (Université Libre du Congo) and The University of Congo at Lubumbashi (founded in 1956) into the National University of Zaire (Université Nationale du Zaïre, UNAZA). Ties were cut with the Catholic University of Leuven, and funding for the university began to drop precipitously. At this point, the university had an enrollment capacity of just 5,000. [4]
The decision to merge the private universities into one centralized system was made, at least partially, to counter concerns about political demonstrations on campuses. The entire higher education system was run by a single rector and faculty and staff were put on the federal payroll. [4]
By 1981, the centralized system became to burdensome and the decision was made to re-establish the three separate institutions: the University of Kinshasa, Kisangani University, and the University of Lubumbashi.
Newly independent, the University of Kinshasa continued to struggle financially throughout the 1980s. By 1985, the campus was in decline, strewn with trash and the dormitories in poor condition. The university's cafeteria stopped serving meals and pay for professors slipped as low as $15.[5]
In response to declining government funds tuition was raised 500 percent in 1985, [6] and in 1989, deeper cuts were made, with the suspension of nearly all scholarships and financial aid and institution of new fees. Through the 1980s, as much as 90 percent of the university's budget was paid for by the government, with only a small amount of revenues coming from student tuition. By 2002, the government gave only contributed the university $8,000 (USD) of the university's estimated $4.3 million annual budget (not including some personnel costs which are paid directly by the state).[4]
The first nuclear reactor in Africa was built at the University of Kinshasa in 1958. The reactor, known as TRICO I, is a TRIGA reactor built by General Atomics. The reactor was built while the country was still under Belgian control, and with the assistance of the United States government, under the Atoms For Peace program. TRIGA I was estimated to have a 50-kilowatt capacity and was shut down in 1970. In 1967, the African Union established a nuclear research center, the Regional Center for Nuclear Studies and the United States agreed to provide another TRIGA reactor. The second reactor, TRICO II, is believed to have a one-megawatt capacity and was brought online in 1972.[7]
As of 2001 the TRICO II reactor was reported to be operational[7], but was apparently put on standby in 1998.[8] The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo stopped funding the program in the late 1980s, and the United States has since refused to ship replacement parts.
International observers have long been concerned about the safety and security of the two nuclear reactors and the enriched uranium they contain.
In 1998, a wall in the Regional Center for Nuclear Studies collapsed when torrential rains undermined the building's foundation.[7] International Atomic Energy Agency officials have voiced concerns that the ongoing issue with erosion could lead to an accident that might contaminate the city of Kinshasa's water supply. Further concerns about the site were raised when, in 1999, an object that might have been a missile, struck the building and caused light damage.[8]
The program has also had an ongoing issue with the disappearance of nuclear material that could be used by terrorists or rogue states. Several rods of highly enriched uranium have disappeared from the reactors since the late 1970s. In 1998, a sting operation led by the Italian police seized a rod of highly enriched uranium that weighed 190 grams. It was built by General Atomics in the early 1970s and shipped to Zaire for use in the TRICO II reactor. The rod was in the possession of an Italian mafia group that was trying to sell it for $12.8 million, possibly to a Middle Eastern country.[9]
In 2007, the research center's director Fortunat Lumu and an aide were arrested and questioned about the disappearance of a large quantity of nuclear material, which local media reported was as much as 100 bars of uranium.[10]
There are ten academic divisions at the university: [2]
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