Najla Bouden ( ar, نجلاء بودن), also known as Najla Bouden Romdhane (; born 29 June 1958), is a Tunisian geologist and university professor who is serving as the

Prime Minister of Tunisia The prime minister of Tunisia ( ar, رئيس حكومة تونس, ra’īs ḥukūmat Tūnis) is the head of the executive branch of the government of Tunisia. The prime minister directs the executive branch along with the president and, together ...

. She took office on 11 October 2021, making her the first female prime minister both in Tunisia and the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

. She previously served in the

education ministry An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

in 2011.

Early life

Bouden was born on 29 June 1958 in

Kairouan Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by th ...

. She is an engineer who graduated in 1983 from ESTP Paris, she also holds a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

after defending her thesis at the

Mines ParisTech Mines Paris - PSL, officially École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris (until May 2022 Mines ParisTech, also known as École des mines de Paris, ENSMP, Mines de Paris, les Mines, or Paris School of Mines), is a French grande école and a c ...

in 1987 in

earthquake engineering Earthquake engineering is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that designs and analyzes structures, such as buildings and bridges, with earthquakes in mind. Its overall goal is to make such structures more resistant to earthquakes. An earth ...

Professional career

She is then an engineer by profession and a professor of higher education at the

National Engineering School of Tunis The National Engineering School of Tunis ( ar, المدرسة الوطنية للمهندسين بتونس), or ENIT, is the oldest engineering school in the country after the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (1898). Part of the University ...

at Tunis El Manar University and Tunisia Polytechnic School at

Carthage University The University of Carthage ( ar, جامعة قرطاج) is a university located in Tunis, Tunisia, and was founded in 1988. Organization University of Carthage is formed by 21 institutions under single-supervision and 12 under joint-supervision ...

, having specialized in geosciences. Her work has focused on

seismic hazard A seismic hazard is the probability that an earthquake will occur in a given geographic area, within a given window of time, and with ground motion intensity exceeding a given threshold. With a hazard thus estimated, risk can be assessed and includ ...

s, which led her to train many executives of the Tunisian Petroleum Activities Company.. She held also senior roles at the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. In 2011, she was appointed Director General within the Ministry, then in 2015 held a position in the cabinet of Minister Slim Choura. In September 2016, she was responsible for the $70 million

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

-funded program "PromEssE" to reform and "modernize" university education in order to help alleviate widespread unemployment among Tunisian graduates, a major social issue in the country.

Political career

On 29 September 2021, amid the Tunisian political crisis, President

Kais Saied Kais Saied ( ar, قَيس سَعيد; born 22 February 1958) is a Tunisian politician, jurist, and retired law professor, and currently the 8th President of Tunisia since October 2019. He was president of the Tunisian Association of Constitutiona ...

announced that he had appointed Najla Bouden to form the country's new government. She then replaced

Hichem Mechichi Hichem Mechichi ( ar, هشام المشيشي; born January 1974) is a Tunisia, Tunisian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Tunisia, from 2020 to 2021, when he was dismissed by President Kais Saied. He held the post of Ministry of the ...

who was dismissed on 25 July 2021. The first woman to take up this office, her appointment as head of the Tunisian government made her a pioneer in the country, in the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

, as well as in the

. President Saied described the news as "an honor to Tunisia and Tunisian women". On 11 October 2021, she took the oath with the members of her government at the Presidential Palace of Carthage.

Personal life

Her father Mohamed Bouden was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

at the

Sadiki College Sadiki College, also known as ''Collège Sadiki'' ( aeb, المدرسة الصادقية, "El-Sadqiya High School"), is a '' lycée'' (high school) in Tunis, Tunisia. It was established in 1875. Associations formed by its alumni played a major rol ...

and then

headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school ...

of Lycée Alaoui. Her four brothers and sisters are all scientists. Bouden is married to the

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...

Kamel Romdhane. The couple has two children.

Honours

Officer of the National Order of Merit of Tunisia (2016)

Publications

* ''Contribution à l'étude de la fragmentation des massifs rocheux à l'explosif'' ("Contribution to the study of the fragmentation of rock masses with explosives"), PhD thesis, (1987). * ''Innovative geotechnical engineering. Proceedings of the International conference on geotechnical engineering'' ds. Sfax, Nouha editions, 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouden, Najla 1958 births People from Kairouan 21st-century Tunisian women politicians 21st-century Tunisian politicians Prime Ministers of Tunisia Mines ParisTech alumni Women prime ministers Women government ministers of Tunisia Tunisian women engineers Tunis El Manar University faculty Living people Independent politicians in Tunisia