The ALBA project

The ALBA university project was born because of the church in Farafangana’s longing to create better opportunities for its residents. The church has been asking itself for years: how do we build an effective educational center for young people and catechists in Madagascar? In the southeastern coastal town of Farafangana, which is one of the most underdeveloped towns in the world, with one of the highest poverty rates and limited access to basic needs in the country, education is a necessity. For many decades, this town has been without any sort of growth; it has been regressing socially, economically, and culturally. The Diocese, supported by the Episcopal Conference of Madagascar, put the plan together to open a university in Farafangana. Many talented young people leave the region because there are close to no opportunities for education or work advancement. In addition to fostering homegrown talent within our youth by giving them the opportunity to study, we also want to help them create jobs and businesses, so they can become the future leaders of their region. By opening and operating ALBA University, we can give new life to the southeast of Madagascar.

The four open study programs are: Management, focused on general economics. Education Science, focused on language and foreign culture studies. Agronomy, focused on Environmental Protection, and Marine scieces and Natural Resource Management, which is complementary to Agronomy and supported by the regional fisheries department. We are currently working on the Computer Science Program, which will be offered next school year. All courses are taught in French, but in additionvALBA is currently offering English education to all majors and plans to create a Spanish or Italian curriculum to support our students. English is currently the world’s language, and we want to enhance our students’ skills. 

We worked hard to find partnerships and are happy to announce that we have recently signed agreements with two European universities: the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE) and the University of Ferrara (UNIFE) in Italy, so that our most hardworking students can continue their studies abroad. They will not only have the opportunity to discover new and exciting worlds but they will also be welcomed by a local family of each region, which will allow them to feel supported throughout their studies. They will then return to Madagascar, after their studies, to work with us in teaching, training, and educating young people, in hopes of contributing more to the development of their homeland.

This institution was built to become a higher education institution. It is named A.L.B.A as an acronym for Athénée Lucien Botovasoa Antsinana. We decided to dedicate our efforts to the Blessed Lucien Botovasoa, a son of this region, who was killed as a martyr due to his faith; he was a dedicated teacher who led with faith and the belief of seeing his region develop, and we hope he will become a recognized saint soon, the first in the history of Madagascar. We trust him to give us the hope to build something significant that could be a model for many other centers and institutions in Madagascar and Africa.