By Doh James Sonkey
The socio-professional insertion of Cameroonian students is expected in the days ahead to enter high gear following a deal stroke last October 2, 2018 at the Ministry of Higher Education in Yaounde by Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo with the Executive President of the Movement of Cameroon Entrepreneurs (MECAM), Daniel Claude Abate and the President of Cameroon Enterprises (E-CAM), Protais Ayangma.
and collaborators
Through this MoU, universities and the Ministry of Higher Education will henceforth work in close collaboration with enterprises to encourage young and talented graduates from universities in the country to create companies as they will be coached on how to concretize their projects.
Speaking at the ceremony, Higher Education Minister and Chancellor of Academic Orders, Prof Fame Ndongo underlined that the professionalization of teaching has been at the centre of the new university governance policy championed by President Biya.
Stressing that “We are today creating a unique centre to promote our best students,” the Minister explained that the MoU is a move by President Biya to boost the socio-professional insertion of youths in Cameroon universities.
In a chat with reporters, Daniel Claude Abate of MECAM explained that “the Memorandum of Understanding that we signed today with the Minister of Higher Education is a good step because it reconciles the university and enterprises in the business world. This is because it is very important for enterprises like ours to have human resources qualified not only in terms of pure knowledge but also in know-how. And that knowledge can only be achieved by collaborating more with universities and enterprises”
He added that “there is one thing to have a good idea, there is one thing to create and enterprise or a company but the challenging step is really to maintain your company and to make it to grow, you need assistance from people who are already in the business. We brought all our support needed to accompany these young students.”
It was revealed at the ceremony that university graduates contribution to self employment in the formal sector is 10% while at the informal level, they contribute 25% employment.