“We Are Permanently Innovating”

The 2025/2026 academic year in the University of Buea kicked off a couple of weeks ago. How is the start of the academic year especially given the protracted crisis in this part of the country?
The post-electoral tension did not impact the University of Buea in any significant way. What would have affected our calendar of activities would have been the Presidential Election period itself. But, the University had anticipated that and put in place adjustment measures to ensure that the school’s calendar of activities was not affected. With respect to the Anglophone crisis, we had adjusted to the situation and have learned to live with it. The students too are very courageous. They come to class and attend lectures. 

How is digitisation being implemented in the institution?
We are very aware of the necessity of digital knowledge in the world today. We have instituted the needed mechanisms to ensure that all our students, across all disciplines, have fundamental notions in the use of internet tools, computer and so on. What we have done is to ensure that we instituted a course, ICT100 (Information and Communication Technology 100). This simply means that it will be robust and cut across all disciplines, that is, it will be compulsory to validate it. And with our well-equipped Faculty of Engineering and Technology, we already have what it takes to boost our students with apt digital literacy skills. Also, our Digital Centre which was constructed by the Head of State, within the framework of the National Higher Education Network Project. The centre is very spacious to accommodate a good number of learners at a time. 

We have read online blogs on the difficulties students are facing to pay fees as they queue up in the bank when they were supposed to be in lecture halls. In the past, they could pay by mobile money networks. Why the change of digital payment method to the traditional method? 
Thank you very for this question. I have been waiting to be asked that, for us to give the public some clarification.  Everybody knows that we started with MTN Cameroon, but we had problems with them. There are some very uncomfortable things I would not want to say. But, just know that with them, we could determine the exact date the money was paid, but had issues of authenticating payment claims by students or proof that their receipts were genuine. It was therefore difficult to tell whether these were authentic.  We could not have a justified complete list of students who had paid fees, neither could there be verified. On the contrary with the bank payments, i...