Some 4239 young Cameroonians and foreigners, of not more than 25 years of age who hope to become medical doctors, pharmacists and dentists in the future, yesterday began sitting for the competitive entrance examination into the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Yaounde I for the 2010/2011 academic year. Originally, 150 spaces were made available for students into the first year programme in Medicine, 50 places for students into the first year programme in Pharmacy as well as 50 places for first year students into the Dentistry programme. But a recent communiqué from the Ministry of Higher Education indicates that the number of places available into the first year programme in Medicine has increased from 150 students to 250. According to the statement, the increase in the number of students is within the Head of State’s greater ambitions programme to make Cameroon an emerging country through the training of qualified professionals, particularly in the health domain.
The communiqué indicates that the recent rehabilitation and construction of new structures at the University of Yaounde I has also made it possible for the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to accommodate more students than before. Although authorities at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences seemed too busy to talk to the press, CT visited one of the examination halls at the faculty premises where it could be observed that the exercise was going on hitch-free but for some candidates who came late or had misplaced their examination acceptance slips. This made some of the parents shake in fear while others had tears flowing down their eyes.
The competitive examination is made up of an evaluation of each candidate’s academic profile which is coefficient one, the written part which is coefficient four and an oral session which is also coefficient one. Yesterday’s written session of the examination comprised of students responding to multiple-choice questions in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, all weighing coefficient two, one and one respectively.
