Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny

The Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny is a university in the Cocody section of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. It is elite in the country and region. With over 50,000 students, the UCA has 13 faculties and a research center, providing diplomas from two-year undergraduate degrees to professional academic, medical, legal, and specialist degrees. It was the main campus of the nationwide University of Abidjan from 1964 to 1996, when it became an independent institution. It is state owned and operated, and responsible to the Ministry of Education.HistoryUCA was an outgrowth of two French founded institutions from 1958. The Ecole des Lettres d’Abidjan (E.L.A.) founded in October 1958, under the joint administration of the University of Dakar and the Ivorian education directorate ("Direction de l’enseignement de Côte d’Ivoire"). Founded on the same date was the Abidjan Center for Higher Education ("Centre d’enseignement supérieur d’Abidjan").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. (The three are the Université d'Abobo-Adjamé, the Université de Boukaé, and the Université de Cocody.) At this time the "Faculties" were re-designated "Unités de formation et de recherche" (UFR) or "Research and Training Units" (RTU). 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.