The University of Mascareignes joins the digital health project Colive Voice
The University of Mascareignes (UdM) is a young university, with a strong proven partnership with the Université des Limoges. (France). This joint venture permeates at different levels, whether it be at pedagogical, research, governance or administrative levels. Although only incepted as a University in 2012, the UdM is increasingly distinguishing itself in the Higher Education Landscape.
The vision of the university is to become a distinct model of excellence in higher education, with a singularity based on the fulfillment of its responsibility to its territorial environment and in its maintenance of a broad international outlook. UdM has three faculties notably: The faculty of Business and Management, the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology and the Faculty of Sustainable Development and Engineering.
The Faculty of Information and Communication Technology is the department most actively involved in the Colive Voice project. One of the main objectives of this Faculty is to cater to the growing need for Information Technology (IT) professionals in Mauritius.
Presently, the Faculty conducts three degree programmes, namely, BA (hons) Digital Humanities, BSc (Hons) Applied Computer Science and BSc (Hons) Software Engineering.
The University of Mascareignes with its historical partner, the University of Limoges, supported by researchers from the laboratory EpiMaCT – Epidemiology of Tropical Chronic Diseases, will launch in January 2023 a master in Public E-health for the populations of the Indian Ocean. The partners of this master project are the University of Limoges, the University of Reunion, the University of Fianarantsoa in Madagascar and local NGOs. This master is partly based on the existing master in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics which is fully funded by the Mauritian government.
The specificity of the University of Mascareignes is based on three major elements: the dual degrees with the Université des Limoges on most of its programme, a bilingual approach (English & French), and a close link with the job sector, which contributes to strong employability of the UdM graduates.
Well anchored in its territory, it is a socially responsible university that intends to contribute to the economic, social development of Mauritius and its population by offering training and research in areas connected with the development strategy of Mauritius. This is achieved through international academic or research partnerships and projects with foreign universities, focused on specificities of the Indian Ocean Islands.
Actions put in place for supporting Colive Voice
The University of Mascareignes is helping us to spread the word about the Colive Voice project in Mauritius, as well as to recruit new participants. Our partner has set up several communication actions: messages on its social network pages, distribution of flyers and leaflets, interviews with the local press. Our partner also coordinates actions with local associations in order to reach an audience of patients, especially people with diabetes.
This partnership also includes scientific collaboration with knowledge exchange, implementation of a mobility scheme for staff members between our two institutions and the possible co-development of a voice-based screening application for diabetes.
Mauritius is unfortunately known for its very high diabetes prevalence rate of 22.8% and 19.5% of pre-diabetes.The actors of the various fields are working to fight this disease which is a brake on the socio-economic development of the island. At the University of Mascareignes, specifically the ICT faculty, there are already collaborations and research projects with NGOs in the field of diabetes and technology. It is the researchers of the UDM who identified the Colive Voice project and initiated the contact with the LIH because this innovative project fits perfectly with our objectives and especially the needs of the territory and the region.
commented Toofanee Mohammud Shaad Ally, Co-Leader of the Master in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Faculty of ICT, Université des Mascareignes
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