UEW partners universities in Togo, Côte d’Ivoire and Benin on PhD training and research

The University of Education, Winneba (UEW), is pursuing stronger academic collaboration with three West African universities to promote joint supervision of doctoral students, research development and language proficiency programmes.

The initiative involves the Université de Lomé in Togo, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Côte d’Ivoire and Université d'Abomey-Calavi in Benin.

The Vice-Chancellor of UEW, Professor Stephen John Mitchual, announced the development during the orientation ceremony for PhD students under the Inter-University Conference for Doctoral Studies (IUCDS) at the Université de Lomé in Togo on Wednesday, November 11, 2026.

He said the partnership was expected to create opportunities for UEW doctoral students pursuing programmes in French and Ewe to undertake annual research attachments at the partner institutions to strengthen their research skills.

Professor Mitchual said he hoped a final agreement would be reached among the universities to facilitate the arrangement.

He also advocated joint supervision and assessment of doctoral dissertations and theses in Language and Linguistics, Literature, and Translation and Interpretation programmes.

The proposed collaboration will cover PhD programmes in French, English and Ewe offered at UEW.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, the three partner universities have also agreed to organise French and English language proficiency programmes for students, teaching staff and administrative personnel.

He said the Université de Lomé and Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny had also proposed sending their doctoral students in English and other disciplines to UEW for English language and research skills development programmes.

Professor Mitchual called for a working session between the institutions to establish the modalities for implementing the proposed arrangements.

He further indicated that UEW could establish a Language Centre to develop specialised language proficiency programmes in French, English and German for students.

The Vice-Chancellor said the collaboration was part of efforts to strengthen academic partnerships within the West African sub-region, improve research standards and facilitate the exchange of expertise among member institutions.

The Inter-University Conference for Doctoral Studies is a collaborative platform established to promote doctoral training, interdisciplinary research, staff development and academic cooperation among participating universities.

UEW hosts the permanent Executive Secretariat of the Conference through its Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies (IERIS).