ICT University, UB sign historic win-win partnership.

The ICT University, through the partnership, brings a huge number of study opportunities to the table, which UB stands to benefit from.  

The Founder and President the Board of Trustees of the ICT University, United States-based Prof Victor Mbarika, signed the agreement on behalf of his institution, while the Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea, Prof Ngomo Horace Manga, did same for his establishment.

The framework agreement was signed in the presence of Eza Abate Jeannette, the representative of the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education, Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo.

Speaking during yesterday’s signing ceremony, UB Vice Chancellor, Prof Horace Manga, praised ICT University for playing a leading role in training professionals in the country.

He said he was particularly impressed by the offers of ICT University, given that the state alone can’t train every Cameroonian.

Speaking further on the matter of the day, Prof Horace Manga explained that, “we are going to mentor the ICT University on the basis of the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU”.

He added that the agreement “starts with an MoU, then it culminates in a framework agreement and then a specific agreement that spells out the duties of both parties on how there will go about  ensuring that all the exigencies of quality assurance are respected in the training of the students who study in the institution”.  

“This is to ensure that at the end of the day, the University of Buea can convince itself that those students have received the skills that amount to the knowledge required to be awarded the certificates for which those particular programmes were created,” Prof Ngomo Manga said.

“This agreement spells out the kind of things that this institution has to respect. We have to follow up on those particular issues. In fact, from admission to the writing of exams, everything is supervised by the University of Buea. At the end of the day, we believe that we would have done what is humanly possible to ensure that the quality of education these students get from the institution match those of the University of Buea,” he concluded.

Taking the cue, the Vice Chancellor of the ICT University, Prof Jean-Emmanuel Pondi, thanked the University of Buea for accepting to partner with ICT University. The renowned Professor said his institution has much to offer within the framework of the agreement.

“It is very important to have a mentor institution and I think the University of Buea is a very serious and credible institution,” Prof Pondi said, stating that: “We at the ICT University didn’t start today. We started in 2010, so we are not a new university.  For this partnership, we are bringing on board many institutions which will be at the disposal of the UB community.  I am talking about the faculties, the students, the researchers and so on. Among them we can cite ICT University Microsoft Academy, ICT University Amazon Academy and also the Nano Satellite centre, which is now fully functional. On top of that, we just opened an online media centre; that is radio and television”.

“So, we are bringing all these on the table, but we also know that we are to gain a lot from UB, which is an immense university. So, I think that this collaboration is a good symbiosis. We are very happy about this agreement,” he added.

Prof Pondi then explained that “through this partnership, our diplomas and certificates will be signed by the University of Buea together with us, which was not the case before”.

Enter Prof Mbarika

Meanwhile, speaking at the close of Tuesday’s signing ceremony, the Founder and President of the Board of Trustees, Prof Victor Mbarika, said the agreement with UB offers a good number of opportunities to students of both institutions. He boasted that his university prides itself as a leader in the ICT domain. He said the quality of training at the ICT University remains topnotch.

Justifying the reason for Tuesday’s partnership agreement signed with UB, Prof Mbarika explained that “…one of the shortcomings we have had for ICT University is that we have been overtly focused on our international partners and mentors especially in the United States”.

The renowned University don said: “We have been mentored for many years by US universities, but ICT University has a campus here in Cameroon and we have to go with the local realities. So, we are coming here for that local mentoring, but at the same time, I am so humbled that UB also requested that we assist them with our own expertise in the ICT domain. That is why we are bringing special things like our Amazon Academy, Microsoft Academy, our Nano Satellite technology, and others”.

“I am excited about this new partnership with UB. ICT University will be giving several scholarships to University of Buea graduates. During every UB graduation, we will be contributing a million FCFA to offer to the best student in ICT. This is to encourage the growth of ICT in UB,” he announced.

Meanwhile, speaking earlier during yesterday’s ceremony, the Sub Director in Charge of Private Higher Education at the Ministry of Higher Education, Eza Abate Jeannette, who represented Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo, felicitated the University of Buea for maintaining standards.

He said the solicitation by several private institutions to be mentored by UB is testimony of the unrivaled standard upheld by the Buea as a citadel of learning.

She immediately recommended the two partners to respect the terms of the partnership agreement, while equally urging them to work in collaboration.

Flash back

It should be noted that this is not the first time ICT University was engaging an academic partnership with a sister University. Prior to Tuesday’s signing ceremony, ICT University had earlier signed strategic partnerships with leading universities in the world.

Similar partnerships have been signed with institutions including the Harvard Medical School; University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA; University of Turku, Sweden; Africa Association of Universities, AAU; Covenant University, Nigeria; Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda; Anderson University, South Carolina, USA; Avancity University, Paris amongst others.