Institut Agro and CIRAD step up their partnership and create POLLENIS, a shared platform for training engineering in the global South

This partnership is backed by long experience of joint activities, particularly in the field of training, between CIRAD and Montpellier SupAgro, the in-house college at Institut Agro. The two establishments have been working together regularly for many years, since they signed a framework agreement as long ago as 2009, which was extended in 2016. This new agreement follows on from the existing well-oiled collaboration between the two partners. However, it also marks their intention to scale up, by broadening the scope of their activities and projects so as to exploit their institutional complementarities through long-term collaborations and synergies.

Confirmed strategic convergence between the two partners

The agreement fits into Institut Agro's positioning strategy, as a major higher education and research player in the field of agriculture, food and the environment, in partnership with the leading research organizations and universities. Institut Agro has an ambitious global policy, to optimize international mobility, promote interculturalism to its students, boost its visibility and attractiveness worldwide, and help build training engineering capacity in the global South.

As part of its 2019-2023 "Training Ambition", CIRAD has committed to build a coherent, active training policy with and for its partners in the global South. CIRAD is keen to help training organizations in the global South to improve the training on offer, make rural trades more attractive and boost the employability of young trainees. It aims to improve the hosting and supervision of PhD students and its contribution to designing Masters courses in partnership with universities and establishments in the global South.

The convergence of the two partners' strategies has prompted them to create a shared platform for training engineering in the global South, including a joint support unit: POLLENIS (PÔLe pour L’ENseignement et l’Ingénierie de la formation au Sud).

POLLENIS, an opportunity to "do more and better together"

POLLENIS is intended to facilitate and support the design and implementation of joint, co-built appraisals and projects in the field of training in the global South, in response to demand from partners. This training engineering covers the field of higher education and vocational training.

The creation of the POLLENIS joint support unit fits into a context in which higher education systems are seeing a boom in the number of students in the countries of the global South. In Africa, the figures are set to double or even treble by 2030. In response to this increase, setting up new higher education facilities and building new courses is a vital issue for governments in the countries concerned. Many higher education and vocational training establishments are calling upon their peers in France to launch long-term partnerships, to build upon their experience and respond to the expectations of a rapidly-changing society.

Several collaboration projects with partners in Africa have already borne fruit, thanks to joint support from teaching and scientific teams at Institut Agro and CIRAD, notably as regards vocational training concerning plantain banana in Cameroon and Ivory Coast (FABA), and the agroecological transition with USSEIN in Senegal (PETTAL). These projects were a key step for the CIRAD-Institut Agro steering group. They served to demonstrate the added value generated by this new type of collaboration, and to structure the organization that preceded the creation of the POLLENIS joint support unit.

POLLENIS is under the dual supervision of Institut Agro and CIRAD, which have provided the necessary staff and resources. The course to be followed by the unit will be set out by a joint strategy committee, with ten members: five from Institut Agro and five from CIRAD. Its activities will be implemented by an operational coordination unit comprising staff members from both organizations. POLLENIS wll be led by Jérôme Thonnat, chargé de mission for platforms in partnership in Africa at Institut Agro, for two years.

Élisabeth Claverie de Saint Martin, CIRAD CEO: "In setting up this joint unit, CIRAD and Institut Agro are confirming their shared beliefs, notably that of the importance of training, which is a real moral obligation for CIRAD. This ambition is written into all our contracts with partners in the global South, to ensure that our projects serve to train young people in tropical and Mediterranean countries".

Anne-Lucie Wack, Institut Agro Director General: "This partnership between Institut Agro and CIRAD goes beyond the historical links between our two establishments. It marks a true change of scale, which opens up new prospects for collaboration with Mediterranean and tropical countries, and particularly with Africa, through projects with significant impact and international visibility. Thanks to its capacity to mobilize its networks of academic and professional partners, firms and alumni worldwide, Institut Agro is now a kingpin in supporting training facilities in the global South".