Between November 17th and 21st, 2025, representatives from the Faculty of Arts at the University of South Bohemia visited the Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal. The visit took place within the framework of the three-year International Credit Mobility Erasmus+ 2024-2027 project. Prof. Ondřej Pešek, PhD, Dean of the Faculty and Professor at the Department of Romance Studies, and Aly-Simeuh Djiba, lecturer at the Department of Romance Studies, a specialist in the social geography of Francophone Africa, participated in the visit. The purpose of the trip was to deepen contacts with the University of Dakar in the field of Francophone Philology. The Romanists are thus building on the long-standing scientific and pedagogical cooperation of fellow archaeologists, especially Assoc. Jaromír Beneš, PhD, and his PhD student Mgr. Tereza Majerovičová.
Our guide throughout our visit was Professor Alioune Deme, an archaeologist at the University of Dakar, who is a key person in the partnership between the Faculty of Arts, USB and the University of Dakar. Professor Deme facilitated our contacts with representatives of the University of Dakar and with colleagues from the philology department.
We discussed deepening cooperation in the field of Romance Francophone philology and archaeology with the Dean of the Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Professor Mamadou Bouna Timera. We also met with Professor Abdoulaye Diouf, Director of the Cooperation Department of the Rectorate of the University of Dakar. Both senior university officials praised the quality of the cooperation in the field of archaeology so far and expressed their full support for the development of scientific and pedagogical contacts in the sphere of Romance philology.
The specific possibilities and prospects of cooperation in the field of philology were discussed with Professors Moussa Sagna, a specialist in African literature, Professor Ousman Diao, a linguist specializing in the French language, and Professor Biram Sene, Director of the Institut de Français pour les Étudiants étrangers and an expert in the teaching of French as a foreign language.
On Wednesday, 19 November, we were received by His Excellency Mr Pavel Procházka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Senegal. At the meeting at the Czech Embassy in Dakar, which was also attended by Prof. Alioune Deme and Mrs. Hana Trousilová, Deputy Head of the Embassy, we presented our cooperation with the University of Dakar and plans for its development to the Ambassador. Both Mr. Ambassador and Mrs. Deputy expressed their full support for our activities and appreciated the possibilities of student mobility funded by the International Credit Mobility project. At the meeting, we agreed that the development of contacts between the Czech Republic and African countries has great potential for the future in terms of political, economic, and cultural aspects.
As part of the professional programme, I gave a lecture on Francophilia and Czech cultural emancipation. The lecture took place in the framework of a seminar of the Doctoral School on Man and Society, which is part of the Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines of the University of Dakar.
Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar is one of the most important universities on the African continent. It is a very dynamic and open institution with a beautiful campus right on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Similar to the recent visit of our colleagues to the University of Trujillo in Peru, this mobility to Senegal is the result of a successful collaboration between two departments of the Faculty of Arts: the Department of Romance Studies and the Institute of Archaeology.
Prof. Ondřej Pešek
