Maria do Rosário Bragança Sambo, Angola's higher education and science minister, has denounced officials’ fraudulent malpractice in student university entrance processes.

Sambo, who was formerly dean of the medical faculty and associate professor at Katyavala Bwila University, Benguela, said the use of fraud, cronyism and nepotism for a student to gain a place at university was a “widespread evil” which all of society should fight against, reported the Angola Press Agency (ANGOP).

Concluding a visit to the Cuanza Sul academic region, Sambo said it was “unacceptable that those students with the best results are not selected for university entrance because of the negative influences of a number of senior university managers”.

“My ministry is working to improve work conditions and salaries of university officials and teachers so they won’t be corrupted,” ANGOP quoted her as saying.

On a separate occasion, Sambo highlighted the need for 10,500 extra university teachers for the country’s 24 public higher education institutions. She recognised the situation was critical and that the employment of expatriate academics, who were mostly Cubans, was not enough to meet demand, reported ANGOP. 

Without revealing the number of academics currently employed, she said her department was working with the ministries of finance, public administration, employment and social security to recruit more teachers for higher education, and was also making efforts to acquire laboratories for higher education institutions at a national level, reported ANGOP. – Compiled by Jane Marshall

This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.