THE METROPOLIS: You are at the head of this university five years after its inauguration. It was designed to offer an alternative to the traditional university model. How is this renewed vision translated concretely into the day-to-day teaching?

PR ANGE ANTOINE ABENA : Thank you for your interest in our alma mater and for making the trip to Kintélé. The vision guiding our university was initiated by the Head of State: to build a university of excellence, modern, scientific, technological, and resolutely pan-African. 

We want to make a genuine elite available to the country and the continent.

Our ambition is to train young Congolese and Africans who are both highly qualified professionals and responsible citizens, aware of the challenges facing their country and their continent. It is in this spirit that we have developed our first strategic plan, the central pillar of which is the transformation of the individual. We want to make this culture of commitment the very identity of Denis Sassou-N'Guesso University.

In addition to this, there is a constant demand for quality. We have therefore made the choice, still rare for a public university in the CAMES area, to voluntarily submit all of our courses to CAMES evaluation in order to guarantee their excellence.

The results of these first five years are encouraging. Starting from scratch, the university now has four fully operational institutions out of the ten planned in the long term. We have just celebrated the fourth graduating class of Bachelor's students and the second graduating class of Master's students. Our institution now enjoys regional and international recognition, while our teaching staff is gradually strengthening with fifteen tenured assistant professors and 21 other candidates awaiting the results of the 2026 CAMES session. [This interview was conducted on July 25, 2026, before the publication of the results, editor's note.]

In parallel, we structured our research policy around four strategic axes directly linked to national priorities, in order to open our doctoral schools as early as October. We also made quality assurance and digital transformation priorities. A dedicated quality assurance unit was created, and digitalization is progressing: applications for competitive exams are now submitted online, and in some pilot institutions, students are already receiving their results on their phones. Our assessments show that we have achieved 54% of the objectives of our strategic plan with only 17% of the initially allocated budget. This result demonstrates the commitment of our teams, but also the need to strengthen our funding capacity.

It is with this in mind that we have forged a strategic partnership with SNPC, which will support the implementation of our next strategic plan. Finally, infrastructure development is continuing steadily.

This expansion, while driven by construction and funding constraints, allows us to smoothly support the university's growth. Our goal now is to integrate a new institution each year in order to continue building a university of excellence serving Congo and Africa.

You mentioned the fifteen tenured lecturers with the rank of assistant professor. But to date, how many permanent teaching staff does the university have?

We currently have around one hundred permanent faculty members. This staff is divided into assistant professors, teaching assistants, and technical teaching and research assistants (ATERs). ATERs hold a Master's degree, while assistant professors and lecturers all hold a doctorate. Lecturers are those who have successfully passed the CAMES competitive examinations.

The university was designed with a pan-African focus. Today, how many students from other African countries do you host?

This remains one of our weaknesses. We currently host fewer than ten international students. However, we are actively working to strengthen this pan-African dimension. I am convinced that with the ongoing progress and the university's growing influence, this number will increase rapidly in the coming years.

Looking ahead, what are the major projects that will shape the development of UDSN over the next five years?

We have therefore made the choice, still rare for a public university in the CAMES area, to voluntarily submit all of our courses to CAMES evaluation in order to guarantee their excellence.

A university cannot become a space for favoritism or cronyism; it must remain a place of high standards, competence, and merit.

At our last Board meeting, held on July 22nd, we adopted a new strategic plan structured around five major pillars. The core of our work for the next five years will be focused on research. In concrete terms, this will translate, starting this fall, into the opening of two doctoral schools designed to welcome our Master's graduates as well as students from other African countries. We now have about ten laboratories equipped with modern infrastructure. In particular, we have just received the final batch of equipment for the renewable energy laboratory, one of the most advanced facilities in Central Africa.

We also intend to strengthen our international partnerships. A civil engineering laboratory project, developed in cooperation with a Chinese university, is currently undergoing validation by the relevant ministry. The other fundamental pillar of this new five-year period remains quality assurance. This requires impeccable administrative, financial, and academic governance, as well as strict adherence to our procedures. We reject any recruitment practices based on nepotism. A university cannot become a space for favoritism or cronyism; it must remain a place of high standards, competence, and merit. It is this culture of rigor that distinguishes a university of excellence from a routine administration. For this new strategic plan, our objective is clear: after a 54% implementation rate during the previous five-year period, we aim to reach 80% this time.

UDSN has a strong ambition: to train graduates who are immediately employable while developing an entrepreneurial spirit. How does the university concretely support its students?

Last February, on the occasion of the university's fifth anniversary, we organised a major forum entitled "Denis Sassou-N'Guesso University World of Work".

We brought together representatives from key sectors, including mining, hydrocarbons, energy, and local government, to strengthen ties between the university and the professional world. This approach is central to our project. At our last Board meeting, we also included representatives from the SNPC (National Petroleum Company of Congo) and the Secretary General of the Kintélé town hall. This outreach to socio-economic stakeholders will be further strengthened over the next five years.

Entrepreneurship is already a reality at UDSN. One of our students won first prize in a national innovation competition before taking second place in the continental final held in Morocco. We want to amplify this momentum. Our credo is simple: business at the heart of the university, and the university at the heart of business.

We are currently setting up a structure dedicated to the professional integration and follow-up of our graduates. An expert will soon be tasked with evaluating their placement rates in order to measure the real impact of our training programs on the job market. However, there is still progress to be made. The structure established on our campus by the Ministry of Employment is not yet fully fulfilling its mission.

It would benefit from offering more activities, training courses, and seminars for students. I have brought this to the attention of the authorities, as quality support requires qualified and fully engaged human resources. Finally, thanks to the support of the Minister of Forestry, the university now has nearly 100 hectares of land in Mbamou, about sixty kilometers from Kintélé.

We will develop a large incubator there to support the innovative projects of our students and researchers. Our ambition is to transform UDSN into a true "university-business" model, capable of creating value, innovation, and jobs.

Admission to our institutes and prestigious schools is by competitive examination and is accompanied by the presentation of a professional project.

In conclusion, UDSN's motto is "Rigour, Excellence, Enlightenment." What would you say to a young Congolese, African, or diaspora high school graduate?

At UDSN, we strive for excellence. Admission to the Faculty of Applied Sciences is reserved for those holding a baccalaureate degree with a minimum average of 12/20. Admission to our institutes and graduate schools is based on a competitive entrance exam and requires the submission of a professional project. We want to understand each candidate's ambitions and ensure they align with our country's development priorities.

Our goal is clear: to provide Congo and Africa with a true scientific, technical, and managerial elite. We invite young people to join a demanding university where merit, rigor, and innovation are the keys to success. I am convinced that by combining ambition, ethics, and love of country, we will train the women and men who will build the Congo of tomorrow.

What message would you like to send to parents?

I would first like to tell them that Denis Sassou-N'Guesso University is a tremendous opportunity for their children and an asset for the entire nation. They should be proud of it and consider it a collective heritage. I also appeal to everyone's sense of responsibility. The acts of vandalism and looting that have affected some university infrastructure are deeply regrettable.

By destroying this equipment, we are jeopardizing the learning conditions of our own children. University residences, in particular, cannot be fully operational because facilities have been damaged or stolen. Protecting this university means protecting the future of our youth.

Finally, I urge parents to consider education as the best investment they can make for their children. With the opening of our doctoral schools, we are raising our standards even further. At UDSN, we will make no compromises on quality or excellence. This is the price we must pay to develop the skills that Congo and Africa need.