Interview with Bernard Lututala Mumpasi, rector of Kinshasa University

University of Kinshasa, formerly known as Lovanium University, was founded in 1954 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) when the country was a Belgian colony. Monsignor Luc Gillon founded the institution, which, for a time, was considered one of the best on the continent. Because of a troubled history, however, the university has deteriorated. Events like the student rebellion in 1969 seeking the Africanisation of the university; the nationalisation of the university in 1971; compulsory student enlistment in the army; and the suspension of Belgian cooperation action in the country in 1991 after killings took place on the campus of Lubumbashi University; and two international wars of 1996-1997 and 1998-2002. From Lovanium, the university was first renamed University of Zaire (UNIZA) and then University of Kinshasa (Unikin). Lately, Unikin, offering 10 fields of study, has tried to leave its troubled past behind with the support of donors. On Tuesday, IRIN interviewed Bernard Lututala Mumpasi, the university's rector since March 2005, currently on a visit to Brussels. Below is an excerpt of the interview: QUESTION: What happened to Unikin after the fall of President Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997? ANSWER: Even when the war was on, the university was open. The war took place in the eastern part of the country, not where the university was. Power cuts from Inga dam were the only consequences of the war that affected us. Q: In the beginning, 5,000 students studied at the university. How many are enrolled today? A: They are about 21,000. I can't be more precise, because in order to become a student you have to pay tuition fees. Lots of them cannot afford it, however, and some pay the fees only at the end of the academic year after lots of pressure. Q: Are the fees expensive? A: It depends from one year to another. During the last academic year, students paid US $140 registration fee the first year and $120 the following years. We determine the tuition fees on the basis of a global budget. We negotiate a long time since many students are very poor. Q: Are the university's professors paid? A: Yes, they have always been paid. But it is only recently that they have been paid decently. Nowadays, the Congolese government pays the professors and the other people working at the university. The professors used to receive $50 and a $300 bonus from the "partnership", that is say from the tuition fees. Five months ago, the government increased by almost 10 times the wages of the professors. Today, a professor earns on average $500, plus the $300 bonus, that is to say $800 in total. The wage is paid every month, but the bonus has been given only seven times this year. Q: Is it true that some professors ask students for money? A: I have heard some stories about professors who tamper with grades or ask for money against good grades during final exams, but there are just a few teachers doing that. There are 530 professors and doctors at Unikin and, to my mind; fewer than 10 percent of them do such a thing. They are punished anyway. This year, I had to suspend three professors of medicine. The punishment could be salary suspension and dismissal. Q: What can you tell us about the infrastructures of the university? A: Unfortunately, we have little means for the maintenance of the infrastructures, which are damaged. For example, students have to cram into the dormitories. Since I became rector of the university, I have only received one million Congolese francs ($2,500) in maintenance. Sometimes we receive financial support. Thanks to a grant given by the World Bank, for example, we managed to restore students' homes. Recently, Rawji Foundation rehabilitated 50 auditoriums. Fortunately, foreign partners came back recently. Between 1991 and 2000, we received no support from abroad except through some personal relationships. Q: Who are those partners? A: Our main partners are the Conseil interuniversitaire de la Communauté française de Belgique (Inter-university Council of the French-speaking Community of Belgium - CIUF), its Flemish counterpart, Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad, and the Belgium cooperation. France also gives us significant financial support. Q: What challenges will Unikin face in the years ahead? A: The first challenge will be to train new professors since the current professors on average are around 56 years old - which implies that in 14 years, half of the academic staff will be retired. At least 250 professors will need to be trained in the next 15 years. The second challenge will be to accord more importance to research and not only focus on education. Consequently, we will need more equipment and more stable professors since they are teaching in different universities. The third challenge will consist in training the new executives of our country, who will be different from the current ones. The university has, perhaps, played its part badly. We should review the teaching syllabus in order to train more inventive, nationalist executives who will be less inclined to fight. In a word, the best investment we can do in DRC is to give priority to education in its whole, from primary school to university.