PROFILBARU.COM

University of Algiers
جامعة الجزائر – بن يوسف بن خـدة
Former names	Higher School of Letters of Algiers; Superior School of Medicine and Pharmacy; School of Sciences of Algiers; School of Law of Algiers
Motto	Integritas, Scientia, Vis (Latin)
Motto in English	Integrity, Knowledge, Strength
Type	Public research university
Established	1909; 115 years ago
President	Ali Abubaha
Rector	Fares Mokhtari
Students	45,000
Location	Algiers, Algeria
Campus	Urban, suburban
Colors	Green ; Red
Affiliations	Association of African Universities; Association of Arab Universities; Erasmus+; Mediterranean Universities Union
Website	univ-alger.dz

The University of Algiers (Arabic: جامعة الجزائر), commonly called the Algiers 1 University or Benyoucef Benkhedda (Arabic: بن يوسف بن خـدة), is a public research university based in Algiers, Algeria. Founded in 1909 from the amalgamation of different French colonial educational institutions, it has become the oldest and most prestigious organised university in the country.^[1]^[2]^[3]

History

The University under French Colonialism, 1830-1962

The historical tradition of higher education in Algeria began in 1832, with the creation of the Higher School of Letters of Algiers (École supérieure des lettres d'Alger), as a way to guarantee the teaching of Arabic and French languages, in the context of the French conquest of Algeria. In 1849 the institution opened campuses in Oran and Constantine, and was formally integrated into the regular French education system on 20 December 1879. Subsequently, the Superior School of Medicine and Pharmacy (École supérieure de médecine et de pharmacie) was created in 1833 (officialized on 4 August 1857); in 1868 the School of Sciences (École supérieure des sciences), and; in 1879 the School of Law (École supérieure de droit).^[4] All were based in the city of Algiers.^[5]

In 1909, these Superior Schools were turned into the Faculties of Letters, Law, Medicine and Pharmacy, and Sciences. Soon after, in the same year, the faculties were united to form the University of Algiers.^[5] With this change, the University of Algiers became the only colonial French higher education institution on par with a metropolitan universities.

Throughout the French colonial period, the majority of student were European. Arab and Berber Algerians only made up a small minority, ranging from 1.2% to 18.1% of the total student body.^[6]

On 19 May 1956, the General Union of Algerian Muslim Students (UGEMA) called an indefinite student strike, which halted the academic courses and examinations at the University of Algiers, rallying support from the National Liberation Front.^[6]

On 7 June 1962 – just a month ahead of the Algerian independence referendum – the Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS), the movement of colonists opposing Algerian independence, set fire to the library building, destroying 500,000 books.^[7] The destruction of these books and the library was reported in the Arab world as a tactic of war or dirty war, known as scorched earth. Egypt, Iraq and Jordan condemned the arson and issued repudiation notes. It showed the savagery of the anti-independence movement would extend to removing and indeed destroying culture so long as Algeria intended to create its own national culture.^[8]

The University of Algiers since Algerian Independence, 1962-Present

The 1971 higher education reform abolished the college system and grouped the different disciplines by affinities into departments and institutes. The reform decrees the progressive Arabization of the disciplines, starting with certain classes in the social sciences (initially, philosophy and history). On 12 December 1998, the college system was re-established.^[5]

In 2009 the university was subdivided into three new institutions. The most important, the University of Algiers Benyoucef Benkhedda (or Algiers 1 University), stands as heir to the historical-academic tradition. The other two institutions created were:^[5]

Abou El Kacem Saadallah University (Algiers 2 University);
Brahim Soltane Chaibout University (Algiers 3 University).

In 2015, due to the state of degradation of the university's buildings, professors, students and supporters demanded that the university be classified as a national historical-architectural heritage. The Ministry of Culture responded to the claims in July 2015.^[9]^[10]

Library

The library holds 800,000 volumes.^[11]

Notable faculty

Fernand Braudel (1902–1985) – French historian
John Peters Humphrey (1905–1995) – Canadian legal scholar
André Chastagnol (1920–1996) – French historian
Assia Djebar (1936–2015) – novelist, translator, film maker
Ahmed Zaoui – Islamic scholar, obtained refugee status in New Zealand in 2014

Notable alumni

Arts and Science

Jean Baptiste Paulin Trolard (1842–1910) – physician; the "vein of Trolard" (the superior anastomotic vein) was named after him
Albert Camus (1913–1960) – writer and the awardee of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.
Paul Coste-Floret (1911–1979) law professor and politician
Albert Memmi (1920–2020) – Tunisian scholar
Suzanne Carrell (1923–2019) – educator
Gabriel Camps (1927–2002) – archaeologist and social anthropologist
Maurice Audin (1932–1957) – mathematician and political activist
Fadéla M'rabet (born 1935) – writer and feminist.
Fatima Gallaire (1944–2020) – author and playwright
Youcef Saad (born 1950) – mathematician
Bernard Picinbono (born 1933) – applied statistician
Elias Zerhouni (born 1951) – Algerian-born American physician scientist radiologist and biomedical engineer.
Saddek Rabah (born 1968) – University Professor and academic researcher.
Kaouther Adimi (born 1986) – writer
Abdelkader Rezig Elmokhadimi (1950–2022) – author and journalist.

Politics and Diplomacy

Ferhat Abbas (1899–1985) – politician
Mohamed Lamine Debaghine (1917–2003) – political activist
Mehdi Ben Barka (1920–1965?) – Moroccan politician; disappeared in 1965
Lakhdar Brahimi (born 1934) – UN diplomat and Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Hassiba Ben Bouali (1938–1957) – political activist
Ferhat Mehenni (born 1951) – political activist
Ahmed Djoghlaf (born 1953) – executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
Said Djinnit (born 1954) – United Nations diplomat
Brahim Djamel Kassali (born 1954) – Algerian Minister of Finance
Khalida Toumi (born 1958) – feminist activist

References

^ "University of Algiers/Benyoucef Benkhedda". enstructive.com. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
^ "University of Algiers – Benyoucef Benkhedda". africanseer.com. Archived from the original on 7 January 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
^ "University of Algiers". mediahex.com. Archived from the original on 13 September 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
^ Mélia, Jean (1950). Histoire de l’Université d’Alger: L’épopée intellectuelle de l’Algérie (in French). Algiers: La Maison des livres. pp. 39–50.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "About University of Algiers (Algeria)". www.africa2trust.com. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
^ ^a ^b Pervillé, Guy (1984). Les Étudiants algériens de l’université française 1880-1962: Populisme et nationalisme chez les étudiants et intellectuels musulmans algériens de formation française (in French). Paris: Éditions de CNRS. p. 128.
^ n incendie criminel ravage l’universite, plusieurs autres batiments publics sont de ́truit’, LeMonde(9 June 1962)
^ Fleury, Georges. The Secret History of the Organisation De l'Armée Secrète Grasset, 2002.
^ "Appel d'universitaires et d'intellectuels à faire de la Fac centrale un monument historique". Reporters. 12 June 2015. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
^ "L'appel des universitaires a été entendu: la Fac centrale d'Alger classée monument historique". Huffington Post. 3 July 2015. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "Libraries and museums – Algeria". Encyclopedia of the Nations. 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.