A meeting for an external endorsement of the document recently took place in Yaounde.

Internal and external partners of the University of Maroua have validated the five-year Strategic Development Plan of the institution. During a one-day meeting on July 27, 2016 in Yaounde, financial partners of the university were able to have detail information of what the university will need to carry out as its development  goals from 2015 to 2019.

The Rector of the University, Professor Ako Edward Oben said the Strategic Development Plan of the University of Maroua is that instrument developed by the institution to chart the path they will follow for its growth. Noting that the bulk of its funding comes from the State, the institution, according to the Rector, cannot depend solely on financial support from the State. This is why the university has clearly indicated to its partners what its priorities are for the next five years in terms of infrastructure, research and human resource, amongst others, as well as its cost to finance its development plan.

The University of Maroua hopes to develop classrooms and research centres. It also hopes to hire lecturers, teachers of high academic level, especially as most of the lecturers at the University of Maroua are junior faculty members who constitute about 57 per cent of the staff population. Prof Ako explained that there is need for the institution to come up with strategies that will enable them get lecturers with terminal degrees who will go through with publications to come up with professorial rank.

He revealed that female teachers constitute 17 per cent of the institution’s teaching staff. The development plan seeks to increase the female presence from 17 to 38 per cent so that they act as role models in the society. The plan also seeks to increase the number of teaching staff so that the student-lecturer ratio will meet international standard.

The development plan requires FCFA 112 billion. The university on its own can come up with FCFA 10 billion. Thus, the institution needs to raise some FCFA 102 billion from other sources. The meeting will permit national and international financial partners know where they can assist the university in the next five years.