Eleven Malagasy students from the Universite d’Antananarivo and the Ecole Normale Superior recently completed their Unit 1 training at the Institut et Observatorie de Geophysique d’Antananarivo (IOGA). The event was organised by IOGA, led by the Director Professor Solofoarisoa Rakotoniania and expertly supported by Mrs Mirana Rokotoarisoa.   Professor Mark Thompson from the University of Hertfordshire gave lectures and numerical workshops on introductory astrophysics and radio astronomy. The course was intense, covering all aspects of astrophysics, but the students were more than up to the challenge and showed great interest in radio astronomy and developing Madagascar into a leading African nation within the SKA project.