The Mauritius Institute of Education
Founded in 1973, the MIE was charged with teacher education, research in education and curriculum development. The role of the MIE as a curriculum development centre has been phased so that it is now predominantly involved in training teachers and educational research. However, it continued to play a role in curriculum planning and development so that the MIE has been entrusted with the responsibility for Curriculum Development as from October 2010.
There are five schools at MIE: Applied Sciences, Education, Science and Mathematics, Arts and Humanities and a Centre for Open and Distance Learning.
It offers training to school teachers from pre-primary, primary and secondary schools, as well as managerial cadres in programme ranging from Certificate, Diploma, the Post Graduate Certificate in Education and Post Graduate Diplomas. It offers B.Ed as well as Masters programmes in Education, in collaboration with the University of Mauritius and the University of Brighton, UK respectively. It offers Doctoral programmes in association with the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa and the University of Brighton, UK.
The MIE, through its Centre for Open & Distance Learning, is involved in the Sankore Project for digitising curriculum materials for primary and secondary schools, and the introduction of interactive white board technology in schools.
The Mahatma Gandhi Institute
MGI was established in 1970 as a joint government of Mauritius and government of India venture for the promotion of education and culture, with emphasis on Indian culture and traditions. It runs, within the tertiary set-up, programmes in Indian Studies, Performing Arts, Fine Arts, Chinese and Mauritian Studies.
MGI has three main schools operating at the tertiary level: the School of Indian Studies, the School of Music and Fine Arts, and the School of Mauritian and Area Studies. It also runs diploma and certificate level programmes, degree level programmes in Languages, Fine Arts and Performing Arts, in collaboration with the UoM. A secondary school and the Gandhian Basic School operate within the ambit of the MGI.
The Mauritius College of the Air
MCA was established in 1971 to promote education, arts and science and culture in Mauritius through mass media. When the MCA statute was re-enacted in 1985, distance education was maintained as a major strategy to meet these objectives. Merged with the Audio-Visual Centre of the Ministry of Education and Science in 1986, the MCA has until recently been catering mainly for the primary and secondary education sector through the production of educational programmes for broadcast on radio and television. The MCA has also been producing educational materials for non-formal or continuing education, for non-broadcast use. Since the beginning of 1995, it has been involved in dispensing tertiary level programmes in collaboration with overseas institutions through the distance mode.
The MCA is being reconfigured as the Open University of Mauritius.
Rabindranath Tagore Institute
Set up in December 2002, the Rabindranath Tagore Institute has a cultural vocation and operates under the aegis of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute. It is still in an early phase of development.