To reinforce research, professionalise teaching: Centre Pasteur, University of Ebolowa seal deal.

The agreement was concretise during a ceremony that took place at the CPC in Yaounde on September 9. 

The Director General, DG, of the CPC, Dr Mirdad Kazanji, and the Rector of the UEb, Prof Jean Bosco Etoa Etoa, signed the partnership on behalf of their respective institutions. 

Through the deal, both institutions will ensure the supervision of young students, enhance scientific mobility, mutually reinforce research skills in health and biotechnology, as well as develop multi-center research projects. 

Speaking during the event, Dr Kazanji presented the organisation which he heads as a centre of excellence in research and public health.

The CPC Director General promised to pull out all the stops to ensure that the agreement would be of full benefit to both students and the partner university.

“We will make our technological platforms available to students at the University of Ebolowa. The CPC has existed in Cameroon for nearly 65 years, and we have equipped the institute with technological platforms and high-level laboratories, whether for entomology, sequencing to study malaria among others,” Dr Kazanji revealed.

He added that: “We have a whole range of platforms that enable us to offer our students a wide range of services. We have a range of platforms that enable students to receive the technical training they need to prepare for the future, and to enter the field of health and biotechnology”

On his part, the Rector of the University of Ebolowa, disclosed that the CPC has a proven expertise in research and will through this partnership, support the institution for which he is responsible. 

“The current context of higher education in Cameroon is to turn our students into entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurial universities. To support development, we need quality research and quality teaching. And with a partner like Centre Pasteur, I think we’ll be able to achieve our objectives,” Prof Etoa Etoa underscored.

According to him, the UEb is entering its third year of existence hence the institutions dedicated to research and the promotion of science. The UEb was created in 2022 by presidential decree.

Before the agreement was signed, Dr Kazanji took the Rector and his colleagues through a guided tour of some of the facilities of the centre.

During the tour, the university officials had first-hand impression of the activities carried out by the CPC and also appreciated the quality of its technical facilities. 

Some of the facilities visited were the hematology, serology, biochemistry and virology laboratories, malaria research service and sequencing and medical entomology platforms.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3227 of Thursday September 12, 2024