In University World News of July 15, 2016 – Issue 00177, this article drawn from local media, covers the extension of the University of Ghardaia with the addition of Two new University Institutes in Algeria.
Ghardaia per Wikipedia, is a province in southern Algeria, named after its capital Ghardaïa. The M’Zab Valley, located there, is a UNESCO World Heritage and groups 5 village oases.
Two new university institutes in Algeria, one specialising in social sciences and the other in sports activities, will be completed in Ghardaïa before the end of October. They will improve higher education conditions and relieve pressure on lecture halls.
The institutes, which adjoin the existing University of Ghardaïa and will provide capacity for 1,000 students each, cost DZD1 billion (US$9 million) to construct.
As well as an administration building, they consist of two auditoriums with 300 places, 12 lecture rooms, four seminar rooms, a library and technical facilities, and areas for cultural and computer activities.
During a visit to the site Fouad Aissi, director of public works, told Algérie Presse Service or APS, that together the new institutes will include a central university restaurant with 800 places, 50 new housing units for teaching staff, and a new headquarters for Ghardaïa’s student support services.
The facilities also included a sports hall, three multidisciplinary stadiums and a swimming pool, giving students at the sports institute the facilities to pursue sporting activities at a high level while studying for professional success, said Aissi.
He said the new institutes would markedly improve conditions of education and relieve pressure on existing classrooms and lecture halls.
APS explained that the University of Ghardaïa had opened in 2004 as an annex to Algiers University and upgraded to a university centre the following year. It became a university in its own right in 2012.
But it lacked the infrastructure to meet the growing educational and accommodation needs of students whose numbers had continued to increase, from about 200 students in 2004 to more than 12,000.
Its opening relieved the pressure on other universities in the south and gave many students in the Ghardaïa region, especially women, the opportunity to attend a university, said APS.
