UB welcomes over 10,000 new students.

The University of Buea, UB, has officially welcomed over 10,000 students who were admitted into the higher institution of learning for the 2023/2024 academic year.

This was during a matriculation ceremony at the Herbert Nganjo Endeley Amphitheatre on Saturday November 11. 

The over 10,000 freshmen admitted include; 8,405 undergraduates across all the programmes offered by the institution and 1,885 postgraduates. The newly admitted students have been christened the batch of “Social Transformation”.

Speaking during the event, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea, Prof Horace Ngomo Manga, emphasised the university’s commitment to providing a holistic education facilitated by highly qualified professors across the institution’s numerous departments. 

Professor Ngomo speaking to the press after matriculation

He cautioned the new students about examination malpractices and urged them to resist societal and economic pressures. 

The Vice Chancellor said the newly admitted students have been christened the batch of “Social Transformation”, for them to inspire social cohesion. 

“We have christened them the batch for social transformation in the sense that if you look at our community, you know, with all that we are going through; we think that these students are those who should work to inspire the spirit of living together, as encouraged and promoted by the central administration, by government, and the Head of State. Avoiding hate speech, making good use of social media, and not conveying hate messages and so on,” Prof Manga said. 

To ensure they live up to expectations as the batch of transformation, the VC challenged the students to aggregate all their energies irrespective of their origin to improve their livelihood and that of their fellow citizens. 

“Goodness does not come only from one individual, but we must interconnect, we must build networks, to ensure that we can move in a direction that will allow us to achieve the aims of government, you know, and all the visions that the government has for itself,” he said. 

UB administration and guests after the ceremony

Speaking to the press, Professor Ngomo Manga highlighted the importance of the solemn matriculation ceremony in the life of students. 

“For our freshmen, the oath-taking simply means that they engage themselves, to submit to all the rules and regulations governing this university. Be good students academically, respect each other, adopt and promote good neighbourliness, particularly being sensitive and avoiding hate speech, encouraging living together, being part of the vector of people and good citizens that make the country that will produce a Cameroon we all want to see,” he said. 

On the other side, Professor Ngomo also warned the new students against the spread of fake news and hate speech. He also encouraged them to flee the lure of illicit financial means via the internet and to remain responsible for social media and internet users.