Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is the smallest country in North Africa. It is a Maghreb country bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. At the university level in Tunisia the first cycle of studies in the academic stream is of two years, which leads to the award of Diploma d’Etudes Universitaires du Premier Cycle.

The PhD is a doctoral degree, specifically called a "doctor of philosophy" degree. This is misleading because PhD holders are not necessarily philosophers (unless they earned their degree in philosophy!). That said, PhD recipients are able to engage in thought experiments, reason about problems, and solve problems in sophisticated ways.