Snapshots: An X-ray of Cameroon�s Democracy, Governance and Unification

52. What Good Is University?

211 52 What Good Is University? October 2007 The university academic year has officially kicked off with Francophone authorities making so much euphoric noise about “le systeme LMD” - Licence, Master’s, Doctorat. For many weeks, Yaounde University campuses have been flying banners proclaiming the Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD university degree system as if it were some accidental discovery that would make Archimedes jealous in his grave. The recent adoption of the Anglo-Saxon BMP system by the Latin-oriented university systems worldwide has come as a blessing to Cameroon, which, despite its colonially derived bicultural educational system with Francophonie having the upper hand, had stubbornly resisted embracing the more rational Anglo-Saxon academic formula because, according to Francophone thinking, it would have been an act of submission to a numerical minority and by extension, a clear admission of inferiority. In an attempt to mollify Anglophones and temper their agitation for secession, the government created the University of Buea, alongside five others, in 1993, stating, for public relations purposes, that it had been conceived in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. Now that the BMP format has been dictated nationwide by global circumstances, what distinguishes the University of Buea from the rest at the moment is ceremonial: the rituals of matriculation and convocation during which graduates in rented academic robes are awarded degrees. Besides the fact that lectures at UB are delivered in English, the institution’s destiny and possibilities for distinction lie in its recently published Strategic Plan for 2007-2015, a rationally conceived 212 blueprint spelling out an action programme aimed at moving UB “from a mainly teaching institution to a teaching, research and service university.” According to the document, the programme of reform has been designed within the context of the new university governance policy that advocates professionalism, relevance and quality. With regard to the University’s primary objective of teaching, the master plan envisages the quantitative and qualitative improvement of the teaching staff, noting that junior staff predominate in some faculties thus, some faculties have a very high number of lecturers who are MSc holders. According to the draftsmen of the blueprint, junior staff means lecturers with qualifications below PhD. It is quite doubtful if this definition reflects the true Anglo-Saxon notion of junior staff in academics. In my relatively limited academic experience, I have had the privilege of being tutored by the likes of Bud Wilde (BA), Professor and Dean of the School of Journalism of the University of Western Ontario, London Ontario, Canada. He was an unassuming scholar who in 1976 was nearing his retirement after two decades of university teaching. He was not only the mentor of dozens of PhD holders, but had attained the rank of professor and dean by dint of his academic experience and his immense contribution to knowledge through renowned publications and inspiring lectures. I am sure if a Bud Wilde were to be recruited in UB today, we would gladly forget our academic manners by classifying him as a junior staff. Cameroon’s preference for terminal degrees has had the unfortunate effect of demotivating a good number of academics who seem to attain intellectual menopause soon after obtaining the socalled terminal degrees. Degrees may be terminal, but the quest for knowledge is not. With regard to research, the UB master plan pledges to conduct research for sustainable development and to enhance the quality of life of Cameroonians. Both fundamental and applied research, it 213 states, will be done to address issues of local, national and global concern as well as those of relevance to industry. The draftsmen have identified principal themes on which to focus research activities. These include health, food security, the environment, gender and governance. It is, however, the opinion of many observers that next to political atrophy, Cameroon’s most aching problems are economic and managerial. Economic development, trade and commerce, banking and other services, industrial processing, packaging and marketing seem to constitute areas with problems begging for urgent solutions. Perhaps the Social Management Sciences Faculty ought to be accorded greater space in the area of applied research for it to become relevant to industry. Cameroon is awash with a multiplicity of development agencies such as MIDENO and SOWEDA that seem to have long forfeited their raison d’etre. We have utility providers like the defunct SNEC for water and AES Sonel for electricity which had long become moribund even before the arrival...