Gabon - Higher Education

Founded in 1970 and renamed in 1978, the Université Omar Bongo in Libreville has faculties of law, of letters and human sciences, and of medicine and health sciences, as well as schools of education, forestry and hydraulics, technical teacher training, and management studies. The academic year runs from October to June. The baccalauréat (secondary school certificate) is required for admission. French is the language of instruction. Students obtain a Licence-ès-Lettres in three years and a Maîtrise-ès-Lettres in four. The university also awards medical and engineering degrees. In 1998, the university had about 2400 students with an academic staff of about 300.

Gabon also has an Ecole Normale Supérieure (Higher School of Teacher Training), an Institut National des Sciences de Gestion (National Institut of Management), the Ecole Nationale D'Etudes Forestières at Cap Estérias (National School of Forestry), an Ecole Nationale de Secrétariat (National School of Secretarial Studies), and an Ecole Normale Supérieure de l'Enseignement Technique (Technical Teacher Training School).

The Université des Sciences et Techniques in Masuku, founded in 1986, has a faculty of sciences and an engineering school. In 1998, it enrolled about 550 students with an academic staff of about 110. In 1994-1995, there were 4,655 students in higher education institutions, of whom only 1,785 were women. From a different perspective, women represented 22.3 percent of the education students, 32.6 percent of the humanities students, 35.9 percent of the social science students, and 58.5 percent of the medical sciences students.