For eight years, the Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland and the Ecole Inter-Etats d'Ingénieurs de I'Equipement Rural (EIER) at Ouagadougou Burkina Faso, have collaborated in the postgraduate education and training of university engineers, offering a course in Sanitary Engineering, comprising 8 months in Ouagadougou, followed by 3 months in Lausanne. Successful students receive a diploma confered by the two Engneering Schools. Such collaboration is productive only if planned on a long-trem basis forcing some of the limiting principles of technical development programmes to be sidestepped. The better students may continue their studies towards an MSc or a PhD, developing the EIER's research facilities, working on topics directly related to Afircan needs and may benefit fiom EPFL's facilities and scientific experience.