As the Mauritius government aims to turn the island into an education hub, the Medine Education Village (MEV) is expanding its facilities to accommodate more international education providers that will cater for over 5,000 students.
Currently, MEV’s Pierrefonds Campus is home to around 400 students, almost a third of whom are international students, and the on-site TALENTS Training Centre has trained more than 4,000 participants since opening in 2011.
The developer, Medine Group, also has plans to establish a second campus near the village of Flic-en-Flac that will have the capacity for 5,000 students (80% of which are overseas students), including housing.
“Medine’s business model in this venture is to provide tailor made solutions in terms of infrastructural facilities that would be built by Medine and leased to university operators,” said the company in a statement.
Expanded facilities will include a “state of the art” amphitheatre seating 60 people, student housing, shopping, medical and recreational centres
In its push to attract more educators, Medine has recently set up the Medine Education Cluster (MEC) within the MEV to act as a facilitator for interested tertiary education operators to set up and operate institutions on the island targeting the regional African market as well as the Asian/Indian market.
MEC will also provide assistance in marketing and student recruitment.
The island’s strategic location in the Indian ocean and stable government makes Mauritius an attractive destination for Asian, Africa and European students. In 2012, there were around 1,000 foreign students in Mauritius, with Africa providing 47% of the students and India providing 22%. Other source markets included the Indian Ocean islands and Europe.
The 100,000 foreign students target is a key strategic aim for “transforming Mauritius into a prime destination for higher learning” outlined in the Tertiary Education Strategic Plan for 2013-2025.
“The demand for higher education is expected to continue increasing in the region and Mauritius aims at playing a meaningful role by offering quality tertiary education, increasing enrolment of international students and attracting reputed universities to Mauritius,” the plan states.
The expanded facilities will include a “state of the art” amphitheatre seating 60 people, student housing, shopping, medical and recreational centres. Work is due to begin in March 2014 on a 150-bed student housing project on the Flic-en-Flac campus.
The largest institutional provider is Vatel International Hotel & Tourism Management Business School, with 238 students on its Bachelor’s and Master’s degree courses in International Hotel Management. Hemsley Fraser, Insead, ESSEC and ESCP Europe also run courses from the site, and SUPINFO International University will start offering both bachelors and Master’s degrees this year.
Medine has also signed a number of MoUs with foreign institutions that will soon convert into new on-site courses.
• 2018 update: MEC is now known as Uniciti Education Hub.
