Short story
The beginning of the academic mathematics history in Senegal goes back to the year 1957, when the first University (University of Dakar), actually Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar (UCAD) was founded by the French colonial administration. It is one of the oldest francophone universities in West Africa and it is among the most prestigious. Its initial academic activities (teaching and academic program) were coordinated by the French administration until the year 1970.
The first Senegalese researchers who published their first papers (in the 1960’s) did their undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate studies in universities in France. Many of them returned back to Senegal, after obtaining their PhD degrees, and were hired in the only existing university at that time, UCAD. It should be noted that these Senegalese shared the mathematics department with French Mathematicians at UCAD who occupied the strategic positions until the 1970th. A new generation of Senegalese mathematicians emerged as descendents of the aforementioned group who build up their own research groups and, taking advantages to globalizations of sciences, they collaborate with several laboratories worldwide.
Now Senegal counts 5 universities with a Mathematics department each and 2 institutes with branches in mathematics. The oldest after UCAD is the Université Gaston Berger (UGB) of Saint-Louis founded in 1990. Originally, it was reserved to the best students in Senegal and was intended to boost applied sciences.
The 3 other universities (University Assane Seck of Ziguinchor (UASZ), University Alioune Diop of Bambey (UADB), University of Thiès) founded in 2007 are in their beginning and right now running master programs in pure and applied mathematics.
The 2 institutes are: African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Senegal (AIMS Senegal) and Faculty of Science and Technology of Education and Training (FASTEF).