Benin

Benin is a narrow wedge of territory which stretches northward for 420 miles from the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the Niger River. Said river forms part of the country’s northern border with Niger. Apart from Niger, Benin is also bordered to the northwest by Burkina Faso. To the east, it shares a border with Nigeria. Its western border is shared with the sovereign state of Togo. Benin was a French colony until it gained its independence in 1960. While the official capital of the country is Porto-Novo, Cotonou is the largest city, as well as the chief port. It is also the de facto administrative capital.

Benin can provide students with interesting opportunities to further their education and obtain an academic degree. While it has a limited list of available universities, it does provide a broad range of subjects to select from, ranging from popular ones such as Management, Accounting, Finance & Banking, IT, Computer Science and Business to curious yet important ones such as Political Sciences, Sociology, Philology, Medicine, Ecology and Culturology. It can also provide plenty of opportunities to gain vital skills such as mastering foreign languages due to the official language being French, although English is also spoken as are a variety of local dialects. Also, there are many chances to gain on-field experience especially should a student take up subjects such as Ecology, Medicine or Culturology. This, in particular, applies to students who opt for participating in one or more of the volunteer programs available such as the ones offered by organizations such as Mercy ships or ARUDMO. Apart from these advantages, Benin also has relatively low tuition fees.