Subvention: Stop the orphan treatment of University of Buea!.

All that started with grievances that people of the two Regions were being marginalised in all facets of development and top government appointments. 

The Biya regime has been struggling to redress the grievances, but it would appear when it takes one two steps forward, it glides one backward.

Otherwise, how can it be explained that the University of Buea is being marginalised in the distribution of research subvention?

During the presentation of some 50 innovative projects developed by students of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology that could resolve some of the daunting challenges facing the country, it emerged that the faculty is receiving the smallest subsidy, compared to those in other State Universities.

There are reports that other institutions in the country, with little to show for in creative inventions, receive more subvention than the University of Buea, UB.

For instance, in the 2021 financial year, the National Polytechnic of the University of Yaounde got 800 million FCFA, that of the University of Douala had 500 million FCFA, National Polytechnic of Garoua also had 800 million FCFA, while the University of Buea had a meagre 100 million FCFA!

That chicken change has left the faculty owing staff since 2019, including part-time lecturers, who have abandoned classes.  

Despite the marginalisation, UB is ranked by UniRank as the third best university in the country. 

Other achievements of the institution include being the reference centre in renewable energy in Cameroon and winning 40 national prizes organised by the Ministry of Small and Medium Size Enterprises.

One of its students won the President's Prize for the best ICT Project, organised by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications in 2020.

With all those marvelous achievements, why does the faculty get a paltry 100 million FCFA, when others with little or nothing to exhibit, are being pampered with huge amounts from 500 to 800 million?

If UB was in the Francophone Region, would it, in all honesty, have had that comparatively insignificant subvention?

The Vice Chancellor of UB, Prof Ngomo Horace Manga, said during the presentation ceremony that "we talk of industrialisation in the country, the Faculty of Engineering and Technology of the College of Technology has come to position itself as producers of engineers who do very well in the field".

But faculty officials are grumbling that the peanut subventions from the state could ruin the ability of the institution to fulfil President Biya's higher education vision.

When the Minister of State for Higher Education, Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo, addressed members of the University Coordination Committee in Yaounde last October, he said it was time to stop the "blame game" of criticising the country's higher education system that is politicised, deficient in infrastructure, quality staff, research funding and void in academic freedom.

The task ahead, the minister said, is that of having the university community to unite as a team to ensure the effective execution of reforms to make the higher education sector serve as a major development tool and a key player in the drive towards emergence in 2035.

“This is another opportunity given to us to make the difference in the higher education system, to change our thinking and way of doing things so that our universities and training institutions can also become actors and drivers of development and the transformation of the knowledge economy,” the minister said.

He added that: "The new Higher Education Orientation Law has given us all what it takes to make this happen and make the desired leap forward. I call on all of us taking part in this session of the University Coordination to contribute positively to a brighter and better future for our higher education system,” he emphasised.

UB has proven that it is making that positive and innovative contribution, but it is not getting the judicious and equitable funding in subvention to encourage lecturers and students to do more.

While the reforms towards professionalism are acknowledged, it has not gone far enough and the role of academia in government universities has been to service the status quo, not challenge it in the name of justice, tradition, imagination, human welfare, the free play of the mind or alternative visions of the future.

Even if subventions are increased based on performance in research, invention and innovation without cause for favouritism, there still is the need for academic freedom and tradition, especially in the Universities of Buea and Bamenda, where, by Anglo-Saxon tradition, Vice Chancellors should be elected by academic staff, and not appointed as it gives the job a political colouration.