Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny


The Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny is an institution of higher education located in the Cocody section of Abidjan and the largest in Côte d'Ivoire. With over 50,000 students, the UFHB has 13 faculties and several research centers providing diplomas from two-year undergraduate to professional academic, medical, legal, and specialist degrees. From 1964 to 1996, it remained the main campus of the national University of Abidjan system. It is state owned and operated by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. In 2008, it had 53,700 students.

History

UCA was an outgrowth of two French founded institutions from 1958. The Ecole des Lettres d’Abidjan founded in October 1958, under the joint administration of the University of Dakar and the Ivorian education directorate. Founded on the same date was the Abidjan Center for Higher Education.
On 9 January 1964 the government of Côte d'Ivoire fused the institutions and promoted them to the rank of university. The public university system was, until reorganization in 1996, known as the University of Abidjan, with the University of Abidjan-Cocody as the largest of three campuses.
In the reorganization of August 1996, each of the three main campuses became independent universities, accountable directly to the Ivorian Ministry of Education. At this time the "Faculties" were re-designated "Unités de formation et de recherche" or "Research and Training Units". The university consisted of 13 UFRs and one "Center". The number of special research centers and institutes have since expanded. In 2008 there were two Autonomous Research Centers in Social Sciences and Mathematics, as well as ten institutes of advanced study.
In 1971, students at the university founded the Pupils and Students Trade Union of Côte d'Ivoire in protest of the regime-sponsored Students and Pupils Movement of Côte d'Ivoire.
The institution's name was changed to Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny in August 2012.

Faculties

FLASH

In 1971, the School of Letters became the "Faculté des Lettres, Arts et Sciences Humaines". In 1977, the Department of History, for example, moved from offering only undergraduate courses and began to offer "Deuxième cycle" and "Troisième cycle" diplomas.

Autonomous research centers