By Ikome Christie-Noella Eposi in Buea
The University of Buea has officially unveiled the newly constructed University Digital Development Centre. The event which took place on November 26, 2024 at the UB campus was an opportunity for Professor Atsa Etoudi, Chief Information Officer and Personal representative from the Ministry of Higher Education, to hand over the keys to the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof Ngomo Horace Manga.
The event which brought together top academic officials of the institution, lecturers and the media presented a platform for Prof. Atsa Etoudi to present the project to the Vice Chancellor, which he noted is a realisation of the Japanese contractors and the Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL) to provide Internet connection on campus.
The structure which carries a digital conference room for video conferences, a smart classroom with computers, giant digital screen, the teacher live room, a data storage office and a monitoring office to observe what is happening on campus, is one of the many projects by President Paul Biya to digitalise teaching in higher education institutions in the country.
Speaking during the event, Prof. Asta Etoudi highlighted that digital technology in the learning and teaching process will greatly reduce the cost of money in building of classrooms, as lecturers and students are connected to the same system.
Welcoming the project, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea, Prof Ngomo noted that it will be an avenue to connect with other institutions. “This new data center will not only enhance our current capabilities but will also open new doors for collaboration with other institutions, industries and communities, symbolising the unwavering determination of the head of state to ensure that Higher Education stays on top of research and education.
Speaking to the Press, Prof. Atsa indicated that, this innovation will be of great benefit to the lecturers and students because it saves a lot of time. Lecturers, who normally spend 75% of their time in teaching and 25% on research, will now have the reverse, thereby improving the quality of teaching and learning process and the ranking of Cameroon, amongst higher Universities. Meanwhile, students will have the possibility to follow classes online or on campus thereby creating University Enterprise for entrepreneurs who will end up as job creators”.
With this new technology, Prof. Atsa calls on parents to provide their children with laptops so as to ease the learning process. “The President’s gesture of giving laptops to student was a guideline given to parents stating, ‘if you want to send your children to the university, then they need to have their personal computer,” Prof. Atsa said.
Reacting to the installation of the project, Prof. Ngomo Horace indicated that, it will solve the problem of over-population on campus. “The infrastructures cannot accommodate the number of students who come knocking but this technology will enable registered learners to follow the course online thereby causing the outreach to our learners to lecturers huge”.
Prof. Ngomo equally believes the realisation of this project will enable lecturers and students better relate with other universities and share knowledge on important fields of study. “An excellent lecturer in a particular course area or expertise for example in the University of Maroua which has this digital data centre, will be preferably followed by students and lecturers all over”, Prof Ngomo added.
The project which has seen the government pay for internet connection on campus on till 2026, will be managed by Nkome Kole Emmanuel, Tsobdjou Kenfack Harold and Mvondo Tsang Landry, who have undergone a one-year training in Yaoundé to manage the system.
Note that this innovation seeks to prevent the repetition of courses but provides a platform where information is stored and can be assessed by anyone at anytime while being updated when latest research is carried out on the topic. The project according to Prof. Atsa will in future enable the bachelor degree to be acquired in less than three years.
With this new project now operational, the University of Buea is expected to go digital and ease learning in their quest to produce entrepreneurs at the end of their training and equally calling on parents on ensure they get laptops for their children which is a vital tool for this training process.