Tunisia (Arabic: تونس‎ Tūnis) officially known as the Tunisian Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية التونسية‎ al-Jumhūriyyah at-Tūnisiyyah), is a country in Northern Africa that has a Mediterranean Sea coastline in the very centre of Mediterranean Africa. Since gaining independence from the French in 1956, Tunisian education sector has shown great progress. The admission process is centrally controlled through the national university orientation system.