Tunisia Way

Since gaining independence from France in 1956, Tunisian education officials have been working to develop an education system that is responsive to the needs of a rapidly developing country, while also emphasizing the need to develop a distinct national and regional identity. Building on the French model left behind, the focus of education reformers has been to “Arabize” curriculum and faculty at the nation’s schools and universities while producing a skilled Tunisian workforce that is able to build and manage a modern economy. The Education Reform Law of 1958, therefore, emphasized technical and vocational education, and the training of a corps of Tunisian educators qualified to teach a new uniform school curriculum emphasizing Arabic language and literature, Islamic thought, and the history and geography of the Tunisian and North African region. 
In the university sector, the government established the University of Tunis (UT) in 1960 by incorporating several existing higher schools and institutes. The new university acted as a springboard for the development of tertiary studies in the country. A higher education law passed in 1969 placed all government-recognized institutions of higher learning and scientific research under the umbrella of the university. In 1986, the faculties, schools and institutes of UT were separated into three distinct universities, which have in turn been reorganized over time to form new universities. Today there are 43 public university-level institutions in Tunisia (13 universities, 24 higher institutes of technological studies and six higher institutes of teacher training).