Interview: Holy Infant University Institute best bet for higher education training.

In this interview, the university institute’s President, seasoned educationist and university don, Prof Tafah Edokat, who is former Vice Chancellor of the University of Bamenda, outlines why Holy Infant University Institute is unique and is the best destination for higher education learners. He also talks about programmes offered, quality of lecturers, moral rectitude imbibed in students, school’s outstanding infrastructure, affordable tuition, among others. He spoke to The Guardian Post’s Solomon Tembang. Excerpts. 

Holy Infant has moved from a nursery and primary institution, secondary and high school, and now you are running Holy Infant University Institute. What motivated this idea of moving from secondary and high school to a university institute?

Thank you very much for that question. Holy Infant started as a nursery, primary school, moved to secondary school, and now to a university institute. One of the reasons was to make the whole chain complete. The aspiration of the proprietor to make this whole chain complete so that somebody can begin from nursery school and finish university within the same chain of institutions. So, the proprietor was actually motivated by the successes of the Holy Infant Nursery, Primary and Secondary School, and felt that the university institute should be created to maintain the same standards and also to contribute to national development.

What is the vision behind Holy Infant University Institute?

The vision of the Holy Infant University Institute is to train holistic individuals to contribute to national development. It is to train holistic individuals who are poised to become drivers of innovation and key contributors to national progress and societal advancement. 

Although initially built on health sciences, Holy Infant University Institute is being extended to the business environment in order to have a business school, an ICT school, and eventually agriculture. 

There are so many university institutes and other higher institutions of learning that are popping up within the national territory. What makes High Holy Infant University Institute unique within this crowded higher education sector?

Holy Infant University Institute is unique in the sense that it was born out of practice. As I said, it was formerly based on health sciences. Our proprietor, having practiced in the health sciences, decided to establish the university institute, noting that if he trains people in that field, they will contribute to national development. He realised that if that if he trains more people in health sciences, the more advanced and robust the country’s health sector will become, and by extension fostering the nation’s economic growth and development. This is just the inspiration behind High Holy Infant University Institute. 

The university institute was born out of the experience of the proprietor, who also opened one of the first medical laboratories in Yaounde in the 1980s. He was inspired to create a higher institute of learning, which blends theory and practice in the area of health sciences.

What are some of the programmes and courses that are offered at the Holy Infant University Institute?

We have the school of health sciences where we train nurses, medical laboratory scientists, midwives, and also a combination of nursing and midwifery. This year, we intend to expand the health sciences by adding physiotherapy, dietetics, and also to expand by adding the medical school. We also offer other courses, notably accounting, business management, management of non-governmental organisations, management of tourism sites, and so on. We also have an ICT school.

There is a notion, be it right or wrong, that private higher institutions of learning are very expensive. How affordable is Holy Infant University Institute to Cameroonians?

Our school fee is not as expensive as people think. It ranges from 400,000 FCFA to 555,000 FCFA. If you compare that to a school like the Catholic University of Central Africa, where the fee is about 1.2 million FCFA, you see that our fees are very competitive and they are relatively low. However, adjustments will be done for the fees, but they will not be as expensive as in other higher institutions. Currently, the fee can be paid in two installments, but we are working on the possibility of it being paid in three installments so that it can be lighter on the parents and the students. 

Nowadays, universities, especially private universities, are coming up with schemes to motivate students, especially the underprivileged, those living with disabilities, the internally displaced, among others, by offering them partial or full scholarships, as well as other learning incentives. Is Holy Infant University Institute running any of such programmes to encourage inclusive learning?

We have a motivation scheme where fees paid before or by the end of September are subject to a reduction, as well as those paid by the end of October. After this period, the students are expected to pay the normal fee. It is an incentive to encourage students pay their school fees on time. Concerning scholarships for those with disabilities and the less privileged, we are going to consider it.

What has been observed within the job market or employment sector in Cameroon is that there are some university graduates who come out from the university and are only bent on getting employed or entering into the public service. Is Holy Infant University Institute diversifying its training? Is it training only job seekers, or is it training job creators by going into the entrepreneurial section of training people to be able to be entrepreneurs?

Like I earlier said, we have a holistic training in Holy Infant University Institute to train the students to be able to go out to create jobs for themselves and to facilitate even those who want to create jobs, to create their own jobs and to create enterprises. That is why we are coming up with a management school that will be different from the other management institutions so that people should be able to come out to be able to employ themselves rather than seeking employment.

Is Holy Infant University Institute affiliated to any of the State-owned universities?

Holy Infant University Institute is affiliated to the University of Bamenda. I was happy when I was appointed and learned about this, because I was the one who started the University of Bamenda, and set it up with certain standards that have to be maintained, especially to train people qualitatively. Now, being a university affiliated to the University of Bamenda, we are going to make sure that we promote those norms.

If we look at the University of Bamenda, from all the schools that were operating, they were mostly professional schools, and there were standards that were kept, and the University of Bamenda was regarded as one of the best schools in terms of training professionals. So, that is the same spirit we're going to have in the Holy Infant University Institute.

Speaking of infrastructure, is Holy Infant University Institute fully equipped with facilities such as classrooms, amphitheaters, laboratories, among others, to enable comfortable learning?

As you can see, the structure here at Melen, Yaounde has been extended by three floors and we have adequate classrooms to be able to accommodate our students. We have also acquired land somewhere in Nkolbisson to expand the school to make it more accommodative for all students and for teachers. We want to do a Master’s in Business Administration, MBA, course here, so we are equipping a room, making it special for the students who will be doing MBA, because most of the students we are expecting are workers. We are going to equip and make sure that the room is very comfortable for the learners. This is this same thing that I did in University of Dschang, when I had an executive MBA class. 

How qualified and competent are the lecturers, and what qualities sets them apart, making them suitable to lecture at Holy Infant University Institute?

We have competent lecturers and some of our lecturers are teachers of State, and other universities. For example, some lecturers in health sciences here at Holy Infant University Institute come from across the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Yaounde I. We have very qualified lecturers.

A renowned university don, now of blessed memory, Prof Bernard Fonlon, in one of his books, The Genuine Intellectual, said there could be no real intellectual without moral rectitude, a strong moral base. In terms of moral background and discipline, what is the situation here at Holy Infant University Institute?

The name Holy Infant itself and the Holy Infant that we refer to is Jesus Christ Himself, who taught us certain precepts that we observe and we try to follow His footsteps here on earth. Holy Infant is based on that little boy, Jesus Christ, who was born and we are trying as much as possible to instill that discipline in our learners. There are certain norms that we have in the university, dressing norms, way of behaviour and so on. All of these are Christian norms which we are trying to instill in our students and even in our teachers so that they respect these norms. For example, we start our meetings with prayers and end up with prayers.

Admissions are ongoing. What are some of the requirements for admission into Holy Infant University Institute?

Our requirements are very simple. It is just like all other university requirements. A copy of the birth certificate, GCE Advanced Level certificate or results slip, a registration fee of 50,000 FCFA, which can be paid in full or two installments of 25,000 FCFA each. We are liberal in the way we are carrying out our admissions.

Any message for prospective students, parents, and guardians?

I would say that those students who want to do nursing, who want to do the health sciences, especially nursing and medical laboratory science, the place to do it is in Holy Infant University Institute, because the institution has the facilities to guarantee them the best learning experience. We offer a holistic training that combines theory with practice. As I mentioned earlier, the proprietor of Holy Infant University Institute started with a medical laboratory, which is still very functional, in the same building, with the university institute, and most of our students are trained in the classroom and also trained in the laboratory. 

We have a demonstration room, which is well equipped with all the necessary teaching aids that we need, in the nursing and medical laboratory. We are well equipped for that. Students who want to pursue these career paths, Holy Infant University Institute is the place for them. As for the teaching staff, our lecturers are the best professionals and dedicated to fostering an accommodating and supportive learning environment.

Aside that, the location of the school is very strategic. It is by the roadside and well known. The location cannot be missed even by novices in Yaounde who are yet to master the town. We are very close to Total Melen, and directly opposite the Faculty of Health Sciences or CUSS, of the University of Yaounde I. We are strategically chose this location to make it conducive for anyone, coming from all the corners of Yaounde to be able to get access to the school easily.

Thanks for talking to The Guardian Post.

The pleasure is mine. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3583 of Friday October 03, 2025