As of April 1st, AIMS-Senegal’s Cooperative Students completed their coursework, and began their first work placements in the following week. The AIMS-Senegal’s Cooperative Program (Co-op Program), is the first of its kind in the AIMS Network. The pilot program aims to provide the same rigor as the AIMS TOP Master’s Program, with an additional seven months dedicated to obtaining hands-on experience in the workforce.
The goals of the program are to ensure cooperation with industry and business leaders in order to ensure relevance of the Co-op Program curriculum and promote strong experiential learning. Moreover, the program will strive to identify and focus on two-three key sectors of development, in collaboration with national and regional stakeholders.
AIMS is working in close collaboration with employers to reinforce students’ training. AIMS-Senegal’s Student Development and Coop Manager, Ms Barbara Thiane Diagne develop and maintain partnerships in industry. This year, AIMS is partnering with several Senegalese organizations to provide a dozen paid internships.
Co-op student Serge Ghomsi Konga from Cameroon is interning with Firefly Media-SARL, a local digital advertising company. The selection criteria were stringent and included multiple phases of interviews and tests. Ultimately, Konga chose this internship for two key reasons, “First, [Firefly] proposed a detailed, well-defined project that links with the training I received at AIMS and aligns well with my professional goals. Secondly, this project integrates predictive real-time analysis with the methods of Machine Learning by using the Big Data components in view of the variety, volume and velocity of data to analyze. ”
“A Cooperative program is a proven solid method for students to acquire practical knowledge through experiential learning and for industry partners to participate in training qualified graduates, ready to enter the workforce, with the right combination of applied skills and theoretical knowledge upon graduation. We are very fortunate to have partnered with like-minded Senegalese organizations who share this belief with AIMS- Senegal and who are now hosting our 12 interns for this first year of our pilot program. In this 21st century era, where technology is always evolving and where new employees have to adapt regularly to new changing labor market requirements, cooperative education will enable AIMS coop students to remain adaptable, employable and innovative. Coop Students will also bring back their experiential learning journey to AIMS as a whole, to continue empowering African youth to solve challenging issues and shape their future ”. Ms Barbara T. Diagne, Student Development and Coop Manager, AIMS-Senegal.
On April 1st, Coop students of AIMS-Senegal finished their theoretical courses and began their first internships in the following weeks. The AIMS-Senegal Cooperative Program (Coop program), managed by Ms. Barbara Thiané Diagne, is the first of its kind in the AIMS network. This pilot program aims to continue to provide the same rigor as the classic AIMS TOP Master program, including an additional seven months devoted to gaining practical experience in the workplace.
The objectives of the program are to ensure cooperation between industry and business leaders in order to ensure the relevance of the curriculum of study of the Coop program and to promote strong experiential learning. In addition, the program will aim to identify and focus on two or three key development sectors, in collaboration with national and regional stakeholders.
AIMS works closely with employers to strengthen student training. The coordinator of career development and the cooperative program, Ms. Baraba Thiane Diagne stimulates partnerships in the industry. This year, AIMS is in partnership with several Senegalese organizations to provide a dozen paid internships.
Coop Student Serge Ghomsi Konga from Cameroon is currently doing his internship at Firefly Media-SARL which is a digital advertising company based in Senegal. The selection criteria were rigorous and included different stages of interviews and tests. Ultimately, Konga chose this internship for two reasons: “First of all, the first is that it offered a detailed and well-defined project related to the training I received at AIMS and aligned with my professional goals. . Then, this project integrates real-time predictive analysis with Machine Learning methods using the Big Data component in view of the variety, volume and speed of the data to be analyzed. “
“A cooperative program is a solid and proven method for students to acquire practical knowledge through experiential learning. It also allows industrial partners to participate in training qualified graduates, ready to enter the labor market, with the right combination of applied skills and theoretical knowledge at the time of graduation. We are fortunate to be in partnership with organizations which are in the same perspective as AIMS-Senegal and which have thus welcomed our 12 interns for this first year of our pilot program. In this 21st century era, where technology is always evolving and new employees must regularly adapt to changes in the job market, cooperative education will enable AIMS co-op students to remain adaptable, employable and innovative. Co-op students will also bring back and share the adventure of their experiential learning back to AIMS at large, to continue enabling African youth to solve challenging problems and define their future ”. Mrs. Barbara T. Diagne, Coordinator of the development of carriers and of the cooperative program, AIMS-Senegal.