Université Technologique Bel Campus

Faculty Deans at a graduation ceremony are from left to right Professors Kabasele, Emomo, and Ntonda

A school of excellence in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The University of Technology Bel Campus (UTBC) is a non-profit, private institution situated in the vibrant capital city, Kinshasa. It was inaugurated in March 1997 and approved by Presidential Decree No. 06/0106 of 12 June 2006.

There are five faculties, namely Medicine, Law, Economics and Management, Computer Science, and Social, Political and Administrative Sciences. The Faculties of Motor Sciences, in which human movement and sport disciplines are studied and taught, and that of Agriculture, Forestry and the Environment are in the pipeline to open in 2017.

UTBC became an official centre for TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) in 2012. A new language lab will be introduced, providing an indispensable service to all students who wish to gain a thorough knowledge of English.

 ‘Our goal is to create an academic community of excellence to better serve the youth of tomorrow. Key projects are already underway including, the construction of a university medical centre and a sports centre, the integration of student housing and agronomy laboratories and the expansion of our academic libraries.’ — Mr Leopold Bossekota W’atshia, Chairman of the Board

Quick facts

• More than 3,600 students
• 202 teachers and researchers
• More than 3,000 students enrol each year
• Of the 3500 graduates, 46 per cent were female students

Click here to see the organisation of the University

The Medical School was proclaimed the best in the country. Between 2003 and 2014 1,355 doctors graduated from UTBC and are now working in hospitals around the world

Studying in Kinshasa

Kinshasa, vibrant and abounding with contrasts and diversities, is undoubtedly the capital city. Despite some problems that have always hindered its potential, it is the administrative, economic and cultural hub of the country.

Our campus is located near the Limete Lumumba Boulevard which is one of the essential arteries of the city. When you get to Limete, discover the picturesque charm that is exuded by its residential and industrial neighbourhoods. Enjoy the peace and quiet of communities and you will soon recognise the functional aspect that allows students of Bel Campus to thrive in the academic confines of the university.

Presently, the campus does not have student housing. However, plans to enlarge the building infrastructure to include student accommodation are underway. At UTBC our students should enjoy the same quality study conditions offered abroad. To be competitive, the University is determined to opt for modern and progressive solutions.

A detailed brochure will soon be available for more information about university projects.

Safety and regulations

Your safety is very important. At UTBC as elsewhere, each of us can encounter a difficult situation related to a security problem: theft, accident, presence of an individual with suspicious behaviour, potentially dangerous objects, road safety, etc. We can all play a role to prevent and limit the risks… and, if necessary, react appropriately.

Also, for our security, the University has a highly qualified team of police officers on campus. Please, also refer to the Internal Code of Conduct of UTBC where you will find information on emergency situations.

Click here for Le Reglement General (in French) and the IT Charter

Extra-curricular activities at UTBC

‘Mens sana in corpore sano’ or ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’ is an important educational objective which should be pursued at a university of excellence such as UTBC.

Learn more about what’s on offer at UTBC www.ukb.ed.ao

The University Medical Centre Bel Campus can be defined as an establishment of responsible health with three main functions: care, teaching and research.

At the medical school students will have the unique opportunity to receive training and practise without preamble under supervision of a highly qualified international team of doctors. All teachers will be composed of professionals, senior executives and permanent trainers to assist students in their process of training and eventual graduation.

This project is in a development phase with the undertaking to introduce a new specific medical structure for the African community. With a network of experts and an array of modern amenities from GE and Siemens, and collaboration with CHU Nice (Nice University Hospital) Bel Campus will be one of the best health centres in sub-Saharan Africa. The medical centre will be able to provide all types of care essential for the preservation and recovery of health.

The summary of care is: comprehensive, intensive, preventive, rehabilitation and follow-up care. Also planned is the dental treatment centre and the paediatric centre for infants and children ages three to 15. Not forgetting the 24-hour emergency service which, for the first time, introduces a permanent ambulance service in the city of Kinshasa.

The new health centre will have the capacity to support the service to several communities and areas in the university area. For special cases, it may also bring relief to area hospitals and provide significant support in scientific research of diseases and emerging infections in warm climates.

Here is an overview of future degrees, offered by the Faculty of Medicine

• Doctor of General Medicine
• Doctor of Medicine 1 Specialised
• Specialised Degree in Medicine 2

Degree of Doctor of Medicine

• Respiratory Cardiovascular
• Surgery
• Dermatology
• Pain
• Endocrinology Diabetes Obesity
• Public Educational Health Epidemiology
• Ethics
• Gastroenterology
• Genetics
• Geriatrics
• Obstetrics and Gynaecology PMA
• Imaging-Radiology
• Infectious Immunology
• Physiotherapy
• Healthcare Management
• General Internal Medicine
• Nephrology
• Neurology
• Oncology Hematology
• Osteoarticular
• Paediatric/Adolescent Medicine
• Perinatology
• Psychiatry Addiction
• Anaesthesiology Resuscitation Emergencies
• Nursing
• Sleep
• Ophthalmology-ORL-Stomatology

Diploma in Specialised Medicine

• Diploma in Midwifery
• Degree in nursing
• Degree in medical manipulator electroradiology
• Degree in nursery Medicine
• Diploma in operating room nursing
• Degree in anaesthetist nursing
• Degree in health framework
• Degree in auxiliary professional childcare
• Degree in social life supplementary medicine
• Degree in paramedic medicine
• Diploma in care unit responsible framework for medicine
• Degree in care management and pedagogy

Medical services

• General Medicine
• Immunology
• Radiology
• Surgery
• Neurology
• Pneumology
• Cardiology
• Odontology
• Dermatology
• Maternity
• Paediatrics
• Emergency treatment home service
• Trauma
• Internal Medicine
• Endocrinology
• Anatomy Pathology
• Hematology
• Gastroenterology
• Urology
• Pharmacy
• Burns unit

How to study?                  

‘Make better use of your memory to better study and succeed in your studies,’ says Michèle Longour author of Réussir ses études and columnist. Successful studying depends on more intellectual and social skills underlying the acquisition, retention and recall of knowledge. At the level of secondary and higher education, memorisation is no longer an easy and automatic process. It requires instead a deliberate intention to learn something specific, an intellectual effort, a level of attention and sufficient concentration, conversational strategies, memory mirroring and recovery techniques. The ability to control the mind and the attitude with which we study make the difference between a painful and unsuccessful outcome and an efficient and enjoyable learning process.

One of the most surprising keys to memory is a natural characteristic of our brain. We know that our two cerebral hemispheres have very different operating modes. But the right hemisphere seems to possess the capacity to memorise infinitely superior to the left hemisphere. Oddly enough (especially in school), it is the left hemisphere which is applied most often to memorise.

Remember, in all cases, it is read and re-read, revise several times.

There is no secret: To properly store information it should be re-read and revised several times. It is an essential, basic rule regardless of your way of learning. You probably already know that it is recommended to re-read material once, day or evening. Why? Because the memories of what you’ve heard are fresh; they are available in the short-term memory, and needs refreshing to fix it once in your head.

A good tip: Before you replay the information, first try to remember ‘swappable’ or changeable content. What did you study? Has the lecturer given anecdotes, details that triggered you? Do you remember the lesson plan? Difficult points, new concepts? Note what returns to you: what images, anecdotes, movements, the sound of the voice of the teacher? These details can confirm the type of memory you use spontaneously. Then, you can re-read the material and start to learn it.

But how to learn? It is not enough to read, or even to learn by heart. Some students also complain of spending hours to re-read their notes without retaining anything. Others learn by repeating formulas and theorems, but then, it is not enough to control its course and succeed to recall successfully.

What is missing in both cases? It is the evocation or summoning. To actually learn something, is to evoke it mentally, i.e. to represent in the mind what we are trying to learn, e.g. the concept of maths or physics, a historic event with its characters, a management principle, accounting, mechanics, a concept of law, the hero of a literary work, etc. Indeed, how one learns, is a little like eating and to digest the ‘food’ real ownshership is needed: chew, chew, swallow, digest… After that, you’ll understand and be saved.

What are the different strategies to evoke and retain knowledge?

Review your course work slowly. After each paragraph, stop. Hide your notes or your book, and think about what you have just read. In what form do you see things? For some, they are images that represent the studied subject, e.g. a picture in the book, a scheme, or a mathematical formula. This can simply be visualising the page just read with the structure of the course, the writing of certain words, or images of places or people not directly mentioned in the course but which the subject triggers. These evocations are visual.

Perhaps that which returns to you is the voice of the teacher, a sound, music, the story of a story, an anecdote mentioned in the course. This time, the evocation is audible. Those who spontaneously use these auditory mental representations, also often tend to fault things within themselves: even as they re-read their course work, they will explain it internally by changing the words or the tone. They like to ‘recite’ aloud or whisper. These are verbal evocations.

Finally, some need movement  such as mimic, walking back and forth to memorise something. This is a kinesthetic approach. They are unable to concentrate otherwise, and the movement allows them to vent their emotions.

How about you? Ask yourself if you’re more visual, auditory, or auditory and verbal. Caution: It may very well be that you use several modes of evocations, sometimes hearing, sometimes visual. Do not label yourself, however. The use of several types of evocation is excellent.

How to use mental strategy?

If you have identified how you function, you must first strengthen your ‘natural’ strategy to use it even better.

Example: You feel that you are using visual memory types. Use all the methods which will rely on it: take particular care in the presentation of your notes, underline, emphasise chapter titles and paragraphs, so as to highlight the important elements. You can make and use sheets that reflect the essential data of each chapter by ensuring that they are clear and well structured.

Similarly, for materials that are suitable, use and learn with schemas, or tables. Don’t just keep a vague visual memory, but improve the accuracy of your references. Use priority visual mnemonics. When you read a difficult or new passage, always have a pencil in hand, note that which you want to retain, e.g. new words; make a drawing; and then summarise on a large table with arrows.

Be inventive: To revise a huge chunk of study, a ‘visual’ student did not hesitate to display course work (shrink-wrapped) in her shower to be able to browse them while washing!

If you’re auditory and verbal, please feel free to speak aloud to learn. You can learn lessons or passages by heart, but above all, you will earn a lot more to reformulate in your words. Keep in mind the anecdotes, stories (funny or not), and small historical details in connection with the course, citations, small phrases. Encode your information with phonetic mnemonic processes (style ‘123, we’ll go to the wood, 4,5,6,…’) Similarly, recite your course to someone who will help you to memorise, check your skills and gain accuracy. If you absolutely need to move to learn, do not force yourself to sit; stand up, walk, act it out while keeping your notes or your book in hand.

Complete with other methods, adapt to various course materials, whether to start by using its dominant operation, this is not sufficient: a visual memory must be supplemented by learning expressions. We must say and verbally explain what we see. Especially if you need to be interviewed, or that the matter requires a mode of literary expression: in languages, humanities, and in all matters in which you verbally express, visual evocations may suffice.

Even in scientific disciplines, try to find the words to explain the steps of reasoning, be attentive to the logical connectors (words like “we can therefore deduce that”) and write them in your listings. Not just diagrams and formulas with which you are comfortable: you will always be asked to prepare at minimum for your homework and exams.

Similarly, an auditory learner will begin by a reciting or ‘say’ his lesson in his own words, but you must complete this first approach by studying drawings, illustrations, notes by writing difficult words, mathematical formulae (to understand them, have it explained with words). You can use the internet and forms of multimedia to find sources from maps, drawings, films, etc. This is especially true for the more scientific or geographical disciplines such as management and accounting, etc.

Advice to all:

Learn by heart tracks, which is in bold or underlined, the facts (dates, names, formulas, etc.). See the tricks and mnemonics to remember.

Check your knowledge, recite, compare with the original, imagine all matters that might ask you to oral and written, form questions beginning with who, when, where, how, why… and find the answers, if necessary, write them, repeat the application exercises.

Michèle Longour author and columnist stores memory with flash cards. It can be used when there are facts to remember, e.g. to find the correct answer to a question, such as: the capital of Bulgaria = Sofia.

Here’s how

First step: preparation
Build 3 open boxes, same size and different colours (e.g. blue, red and green)

• Put the three boxes side by side. These boxes will be used whenever you will use flash cards.
• Cut small rectangular paper squares (16 small sheets in an A4 sheet).
• Write on each card something to remember: on one side the question (Bulgaria), on the other the response (Sofia). Write with many gaudy colours. This allows the use of the ‘photographic memory’.

Second stage: handling

• Shuffle all cards, both the order of the cards, but also turning over cards, so as to have either questions or answers, in a random way.
• Put all the cards in the box on the left.
• Take the first card which is on top.
• Read what’s on the top face, and give the corresponding answer (if it is a question), or the corresponding question (if it is a response).
• Check, turning the card and if it corresponds, then put the card in the second box, in the middle. When it was wrong, it resets the card inside the stack of cards. Thus, gradually, all cards will enjoy the first box to the left to the central box.
• When all the cards are in the central box, we start the process again: shuffle the cards, take the top card, etc. If correct, the card passes to the third box, right. If incorrect, the card goes back into the first box on the left. After some time, the box in the middle will be empty, and there will be cards in the left box, and others in the box on the right.
• Repeat the entire process with the cards that are returned in the left box, until they arrive in the box on the right, via the central box.
• When all the cards successfully arrive in the box on the right, the process is complete.
• Put an elastic around the cards, and put them aside for later use.

Memorising with mental images with mental images often give surprising results: what seemed to be ‘unable to save’ becomes easy (and fun) to remember.

The principle is simple: We translate what we must remember by forming mental images.

A mental image is an image voluntarily created in one’s mind. For example, if you are asked to describe your living room, you will use a mental picture: ‘when we enter my home, the living room is to the left, there is a red sofa on the right, with a spot on the armrest. On the sofa there are two white pillows, which is slightly torn, etc. You can change this image, e.g. you can imagine that your couch is green (like your neighbour’s), you change the position of furniture, etc.

There are different techniques using mental images, especially so-called ‘Cicero’ which is a memorisation technique described for the first time by Cicero (he used it to hold his speeches).

It allows one to memorise a number of ideas in a specific order: memorise the outline of a conference or a presentation, the main ideas of a fact sheet, a body of chemical properties, etc. It can be usefully combined with the use of a bitmap, to memorise the different main branches.

The technique is as follows:

• Select a known place (a house, a room, or our desk).
• Then imagine moving in this well known place, passing from one room to another, or from one object to another. In each place, it creates a mental picture. To be effective, these mental images should always have the following characteristics: coloured, exaggerated, with movement. Thus is staged in a vivid manner the idea you want to remember.
• Then, it will suffice to ‘walk in your imagination in this place to let every mental image resurface and return to consciousness, to find all the ideas to remember, in the correct order.

Small children use games to learn. Why not use the pleasure of a game to memorise?

Example: The memory game presents itself as a set of small cartons, each carton represents, on one side, an image. And the same image is represented twice, on two different cards. Mix all the cartons, the faces with images hidden, and spread it out. Each player, in turn, returns two cards. If they are identical, it removes them from the game and put them beside him. If they are different, he returns them to their place and tries to memorise their location.

Suitable memory

• Prepare small cards or small bits of paper of identical forms.
• Prepare two cards for each word or concept to remember. On one of the cards, write the question, and on the other the response. A different colour or a different symbol on the back of each card to know if it is a question or a response.
• Spread cards facedown.
• Each player in turn, return two cards, one of each type (one question and a reply card). The goal is to return the two cards that match.
• One can change the rules to make the game more interesting. For example: If the two cards do not match, the player can replay once if it can correctly indicate what additional cards of the two cards is returned.
• At the end, the winner is the one who has the most cards.

Support the University

You can contribute to the development of UTBC by making a donation into a designated bank account. Donations in favour of the University give rise to a tax deduction for the donor. The deduction is applicable for donations made by private individuals and national or international companies.

From donations of movable or immovable property or a minimum value of $US 25,000, a specific foundation can be created within the Heritage of the University of Technology Bel Campus and the use will be based on the wishes expressed by the donor, whose name and memory, if desired, will remain attached to its foundation.

For more information, please contact the office of Bel Campus Business and Growth.

Université Technologique BEL CAMPUS
8ème Rue Limete
Quartier Industriel Kinshasa/LIMETE R.D. Congo

Tel: +243 998 11 9362
Tel: +243 818 14 9350
Fax : +243 998 13 7127

E-mail: bcae@belcampus.com  /  info@belcampus.com

Contact

l’Université Technologique Bel Campus
Sise, 8ème rue n°17, Limete
Quartier Industriel
Boite postale 94
Gombe, Kinshasa
Democratic Republic of the Congo

Tel.: +243 998 119 362 /  +243 998 137 127

Email: belcampus@yahoo.fr

Web: www.belcampus.com