Seychelles needs a quality education system. Without it, tomorrow’s generation will not be able to compete in an increasingly globalised world,” says Dr. Rolph Payet, president of Seychelles University.

It may be just three years old, but the University of Seychelles is centre stage in the drive to ensure the island nation’s economic stability, by successfully associating and collaborating with UK universities, industry leaders and overseas sponsors.

Seychellois education closely resembles the UK’s GCSE and ‘A’ Level examinations and for a decade, Seychelles University (SU) was linked with Manchester University (MU). Now it is affiliated with the University of London (UoL), which is “already singling us out as showing a lot of progress and doing very well,” says Dr. Payet, who is also SU’s Vice Chancellor.

“We are using their (LSE and UoL) brands to really pull our name up by being associated with a very strong national brand. When students come to this university, the same quality they expect in the UK will be delivered here,” insists Payet.

In the past, Seychelles was forced to send its most talented students abroad to study, where they were often poached. Today, Seychellois living abroad now send their children back to their homeland to receive a UK-standard education at SU, with courses costing approximately 20 per cent less than in the UK.

Subjects in demand include law, economics and finance. The first class of 20 students is expected to graduate in Business Administration this year, while an Environmental Sciences degree will also be launched.

Private businesses in banking and tourism are financing scholarships, while the Indian Government is also sponsoring an IT Centre of Excellence.