13/11/2018. I think we will all agree that getting an education is not necessarily necessary for success. It does help a lot, though. And when it comes to higher education, we don’t want to screw up and choose the best one that fits our budget (don’t be fooled, money has always been the sinews of war). For parents, the school their children attend is very important. So out of curiosity, we wanted to know which universities and grandes écoles were considered to be the best in the capital by the Tananarivians.
To do this, we have concocted a survey that we had 975 people on the street answer. Here are the results.
The capital’s best known universities
For the Big Island, the capital remains the place where the best options are concentrated for those who wish to continue their higher education. Many people have understood this, and over the last ten years or so, a number of training centres, institutes and other “higher schools” have sprung up in the city, even in the most unlikely places.
So we had to start by separating the wheat from the chaff and that’s why we asked our respondents to list the universities and colleges they knew of. In first place was the University of Antananarivo, which confirms its position as the city’s leading institution of higher education. Bringing together several faculties such as the DEGS (Law, Economics, Management, Sociology), the Confucius Institute or simply the Faculty of Medicine, this university is known by 87% of the people we interviewed.
After Ambohitsaina, the second best known university is the ACEEM University, an establishment belonging to the eponymous group and whose existence is known by 32% of the respondents. And in third place, almost tied with 31% of the votes, is the private university of Madagascar, otherwise known by the acronym UPRIM.
Next, in order to make a top 10:
- the National Distance Learning Center of Madagascar (CNTEMAD, 22%)
- the Polytechnic School of Antananarivo, attached to the University of Antananarivo and better known as “polytech Vontovorona”, even if the strike in Vontovorona has become a kind of tradition. (ESPA, 15%)
- the national school of administration of Madagascar (ENAM, 9%)
- the Higher Institute of Communication, Business and Management (ISCAM, 8%)
- the National Institute of Accounting Sciences and Business Administration (INSCAE, 6%)
- the arts and crafts management institute (IMGAM, 6%)
- and finally, the Catholic University of Madagascar (UCM, 6%).
Note: Other major schools were of course cited by our respondents, but these are the 10 most well known. If you are wondering where this or that institute/university/school is ranked, feel free to click on a small comment and I will be happy to answer you :).
The top 10 best universities according to the Antananarivians
Based on the concentration of private universities and higher institutes in the capital, there is a real reason to believe that the future of our graduates is clear. Especially when you read the curriculum proposed by some people, you might wonder why Madagascar is not crumbling under Carlos Ghosn and Marissa Mayer. The truth is that finding a good school, whether for professional or academic training, is not easy.
We then asked the Tananarivians what they thought: which establishments stood out from the rest in their opinion? And it is unequivocal, the best university in the capital is undoubtedly for them the one in Ankatso, the university of Antananarivo! A doubly interesting opinion since Anjerimanontolo not only took the first place by collecting 60% of the votes, but it also literally crushed its other contenders who must share among themselves what remains. Just take a look.
Considered as the second best university in the city, ACEEM University received … 5% of the votes! It is also tied with ESPA. In fourth place is UPRIM (4%), itself followed by CNTEMAD and ENAM (3% each), then INSCAE, ISCAM and SAMIS-ESIC (the information and communication college of Collège St Michel), all three at 2%. Finally, the UCM closes the top 10 of the best universities, winning the opinion of 1% of the interviewees.
The why of the how
We obviously did not stop there and asked the same people why they think that Ankatso, ACEEM and ESPA are the 3 best universities in the capital. Here’s how it goes.
The best channels, according to the Tananarivians, to find a good job in Madagascar
When asked what they think are the best channels for finding a good job afterwards, the people questioned in our survey put management at 22%.
They were then 16% to say that it’s computer science, 12% to think it’s more polytechnic, 11% to think it’s law and 7% to say it’s medicine. Next came multimedia and literature (4% each), hotels (3%) and paramedical (2%).
Finally, when questioned about what they consider to be the minimum level of education required to have a good job, 38% of the respondents said that the baccalaureate + 3 years of higher education was the most important. Interestingly, 16% of them immediately said… bac+5!
For 13% of them, it’s the bac+2 and for 11%, it’s just the bac. Finally, it should be noted that the number of people surveyed who think that the minimum level to have is Bac+1 and those who think it is the doctorate (Bac+8) are equal: 1%.
What we can say about this survey of the best universities in Antananarivo
Personally, I was a little shocked when I read the results of this survey. Already, it seems that among most of the capital’s inhabitants, private universities are not really popular. In fact, while 87% are familiar with Ankatso’s public university, the first private university on the list is only known by a third of those interviewed. A reality that the Internet tends to confirm: the website of the University of Antananarivo is, by far, the most visited site in the country in the “University” category (based on its organic traffic). A glance at the ranking of the best Malagasy websites is enough to verify this.
Then, if 60% of the respondents give this same public university as the best of all, on the private side, it is rather sad: the second place is given to five small percent (5%)!
It is also noticeable that the main reasons for the podium at the top three universities are really different. If the respondents think that the University of Antananarivo is well known, they especially find that the ACEEM University has good teachers and that the graduates of Vontovorona easily find work.
Finally, according to the majority of the people questioned in this survey, it is management that you have to take as a career path if you want to find a good job and at the same time manage to get your license, at the very least.
