International conferences and the start of the HTTTC Kumba are awaited as innovations.
The University of Buea (UB) has entered its second week after opening its doors to 8,000 freshmen last 13 October, 2014 for the academic year 2014-2015. This brings to some 24,000 the total number of students parading UB’s amphitheatres and offices in the 2014/2015 university year.
Located on some 270 hectares of land space occupied in Molyko-Buea, UB enjoys four campuses including two in Molyko, one at Clerks’ Quarters (former Alliance Franco-Camerounaise) and the announced HTTTC campus in Kumba. Inside sources say some FCFA 300 million is required to run the Kumba School as its first batch is still awaited. As Cameroon Tribune visited the UB campus on Monday, October 20, 2014 at mid-day, thousands of students were still struggling with registration formalities as they were seen lined up in front of offices.
The beehive atmosphere saw students bustling from one part of the campus to another. Administrative authorities used the early hours of the day to hold crucial meetings. The banks based in Buea were equally seen populated by students paying fees for UB. Owing to UB’s resumption, the vicinity of Molyko is extensively enlivened as it now booms with various businesses consumed by students.
Accommodation remains a perennial problem in the first Anglo-styled University of Cameroon created from the dust of 1992 University reforms engaged to decongest the lone Yaounde University at the time. The list of post graduate admissions will be finalized this weekend, the registrar of UB, Professor Roland Ndip explained to CT.
Innovations
As UB tackles the new academic year, the UNESCO Chair of the Institution is boasting of a FCFA 14-million equipment called the “Atomic Absorption Electro Spectrophotometer” meant to identify the mental deficit of a handicapped person and to determine its scale. The equipment was donated last May by the MTN Foundation to assist special need learners.
As another novelty, UB’s engineering department has adopted a ground breaking community approach whereby it has entered partnerships with South West Councils to produce solar energy in the various areas of the Region. A major event is also awaited in UB next 27-30 October when the institution will host an international conference on Bio-informatics.
