MATLAB: A Powerful Didactic Alternative Where Labs Are Lacking – My African Mission
Patrick Ngosse
on 30 Jul 2025
In many parts of Africa, particularly in technical universities and engineering institutes, physical laboratories are scarce or poorly equipped. This reality deeply limits the hands-on experience students deserve, especially in fields like control systems, signal processing, power electronics, and fluid mechanics.
But MATLAB and Simulink can fill part of this gap.
As an educator and researcher, I’ve made it my mission to promote MATLAB as a didactic simulation environment that brings real-world experimentation into the virtual space—affordable, accessible, and scalable. Whether simulating dynamic systems, visualizing electromagnetic fields, or tuning PID controllers interactively, students can develop strong intuition without needing costly hardware.
🔧 I’ve used MATLAB to teach:
- Power systems and control theory without needing real generators or oscilloscopes,
- Hydrology and environmental modeling without field sensors,
- Robotics and AI concepts even where no robot is available.
🌍 This is more than a tool for me. It’s a bridge between educational ambition and limited infrastructure.
I dream of creating MATLAB-based virtual laboratories across African institutions. And I know I’m not alone.
Is anyone else here working on similar goals in under-resourced regions? Let’s connect and make it real.
— Patrick K.N.
