The University of Buea Medical School: One Year After the "Regional Balance" firestorm

Dibussi Tande

Late last month, Cameroon’s Minister of Higher Education, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, quietly published the names of students admitted into the University of Buea's School of medicine for the 2007/2008 academic year.

Unlike last year when the admission process unleashed a firestorm that resulted in the shooting death of 2 students and the dismissal of the university’s Vice Chancellor, this year’s process was relatively uneventful and was largely unnoticed by the public.

It should be recalled that the 2006 crisis began when the Minister of Higher Education invalidated the list of successful candidates eligible to participate in the oral part of the entrance examination into the Faculty of Medicine which had been published by that university’s Vice Chancellor. According to the Minister, the Vice Chancellor’s list was null and void because it was based solely on merit (it consisted of the best 127 candidates who sat for the written part of the exam) and failed to "respect of the sociological balance [of Cameroon], the guarantor of national integration and stability".

And when the final list of the 85 successful candidates was made public, an accompanying press release from the Minister stressed that the list was driven primarily by “regional balance” considerations. For the first time in the history of public examinations in Cameroon, official results included a detailed breakdown of the linguistic and provincial origins of the successful candidates.

This time around, it appears (at least on paper) that the advocates of meritocracy (however defined in the Cameroonian context) seem to have won the day with regional considerations apparently relegated to the background. According to the ministerial order of September 24, 2007 announcing the results into the School of Medicine:

"The Minister of Higher Education announces that, subject to the verification of their qualifications, the following candidates in the entrance examination into the first year of Medical Studies at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Buea, for the 2007/2008 academic year. They are, in order of merit [my emphasis]…"

So did merit really trump over the “regional alchemy” for which the University of Buea served as a Guinea Pig last year? If that is indeed the case, is the debate over regional balance finally over? If not, should merit alone determine admissions into the “Grandes Ecoles” (or even into the civil service, police force, army, etc.) or should some form of “affirmative action” also play a role in a country “where history and geography have created regions that are lagging behind others, and where colonialism and post-colonial politics also created favored and disfavored ethnic groups”? The jury is most certainly still out on this emotionally-charged debate which even countries such as the United States are still grappling with.

Those interested in the regional balance controversy which rocked UB last year can click here to read my commentary on regional balance in Cameroon.

Interested parties can also click here to view the official list of students admitted into UB’s Faculty of Medicine this year.

Comments

[Louis_Mbua]

We have to be careful not to confuse French styled education, "Grandes Ecoles" with those of Anglo-Saxon methods of Education. A University is just that.

Nobody enters Universities on the basis that they came from Africa, Europe or Cameroon regardless of the discipline. The most prominent method of admission in most Universities is meeting the requirements by merit. Even in affirmative action for disadvantaged cases, the student must meet the minimum requirement to be considered at all.

Believing that all regions of a nation must be equally represented in a University course is extremely foolish. Excellence is the watch word in the academia; and not mediocrity in the name of "regional balance". Students should never be treated as Civil Servants because they are in the process of learning a discipline and not practising it.

Regional Balance can come after the students have qualified and NOT before they qualify. Otherwise, this will almost certainly lead to failed students getting undeserved access into courses that require the best minds to produce the best results for the nation: with catastrophic consequences in the long term as we are seeing in Cameroon today after 25 years of academic corruption at Universities and other institutions.

[M Nje]

This criminal minister said the less is published according to merit. That does not necessarily mean the selection was based on merit.

The questions an observer will ask is how open and transparent was the selection process? What were the criteria? If it was done in the dark corner of offices in Yaoundé then it leads to more questions than answer. Why should things be done in hiding? What may they be hiding?

[Ma Mary]

Thanks be to the sister country of Nigeria.

Perhaps I am missing something, but could any one name me one occasion when la republique or its minions kept to the terms of an agreement.

[che Sunday]

This debate will contnue to rage on until something gives. Cameroon has three universities that offer medical training. Yaounde I, Buea, and the private University in the Western province,(Montagne) disregard the spelling. Why does it become imperative that only the University of Buea gets its list of medical school students approved by the minister of higher education? Will this privilege continue to be bestowed on the portfolio of this ministry once the minister is anglophone? When shall Cameroon for once become a country where its citizens are just Cameroonians first before their linguistic affiliations?
In the 70s, students coming from the north to attend the university of Yaounde were dubbed "sous development" or under-developed, yet, the most astute leader, albeit dictatorial the country has ever had came from this region. What we have gotten out of our education is corruption, discrimination, indifference and the worst form of hypocracy mankind has ever witnessed. Mr. Minister, do what you and your colleagues do best, stealing. Leave the running of the universities to their chancellors. Next time you go to read another list for admissions into Buea, you will bite your tongue and swallow part of it.

[Mbandu]

Che,

You got your facts wrong on this one. The Minister of Higher Education, even in the days of Agbor Tabi, signs admission results into all state-owned insitutions that fall under his ministry including the medical schools in Douala and Yaounde. You can check out the ministry of higher education's website at www.minesup.gov.cm

The minister of public service has the same authority of the admission list into other schools such as ENAM.

So buea is not being singled out in any way shape or form

[Nebangwa]

Well, i wish to thank the Almighty that this time around there was not lost of lives. we need to continue to pray for our country cameroon. infact our French speaking brothers are discovering the importance of English education and that is way they are flooding into the University of Buea particularly in professional oriented fields.
We need to call on the administration to see into it that if the idea of regional balance is to be out in place, the thing which should count first is merit so that the products produced at the end should be of help to the nation particularly in the faculty of Medicine which will be dealing with the lives of fellow Cameroonians.
May god help Cameroon.

[esimo]

After combing through the list, I could not find any name that resembles that of and Oroko, the biggest ethnic group in Southwest province, occuping the whole of Ndian division and 3/4 of Meme division.
Last year, three Oroko names were amongst the list published by the University and non in regional planificaion list published by the minister, even though the Oroko region is the bread basket of the triangle called Cameroun, yet the under-developed and disadvantage region.

Can some one tell if an entrance examination was conducted and Oroko child made?

[Kumbaboy]

The infamous Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo has perhaps learnt two lessons:-

(1) The New Cameroonians will not tolerate ethnofascism.

(2) Placing ethnicity before exellence in a national competitive exam, violates the constitutional rights of those successful citizens artificially failed by ethnic considerations.

On (2), the Cameroon Constitution states that thou shall not be treated with reference to ethnicity, sex, .......

Finally, it boils down to the conscience of Cameroonians. Jacques Fame Ndongo does not deserve to be at the helm of education in government any more. Ndongo has done irreparable damage to the psyche of youths in the country and undermined the case for excellence and achievement. In Ndongo lies the tissue of intellectual corruption.

[Tekum Mbeng]

Esimo,

With reference to Louis Mbua above, medicine is a delicate field. You would not want to be treated by a doctor who did not pass his/her exam to medical school.

The Oroko kids need to study harder to succeed. Success is hardwork.

The dramatic change in policy gives credit to the former UB head who sacrificed his career by unintentionally shaking up the system. Finally, it has taken 12 months for Fame Ndongo to yield to reality.

The CPDM cannot preach academic excellence (Paul Biya) and regional balance (Fame Ndongo) simultaneously without violating the constitutional rights of some intelligent students.

[Ron DOnofrio]

Hello my name is Ron I am an American from Boston who recently met a few poeple from Bamenda who have told me about a lack of eye care available ther. I have worked in ophthalmology for over 20 years and have many contacts in the field and would like to get a volunteer group to go to Bamenda to provide free eye care. If anyone on this site knows of any information on how we could do this please let me know.. Sincerely Ron

[The southwesterner]

Fame Ndongo is just another utra-rightwinger conservative trying to realise the agenda of his chosen ethnic group. His entourage includes the likes of Jean Paul Mbia, a close aide and long time friend. J.P Mbia is seen as his master spin doctor,author of the phrase Anglo-Bami and one of the founding fathers of the rightwing Patriot newspaper that was famous for Anglo-Bami bashing in the 90s.
The truth is all the universities operating today are government owned. On that Dr. Nyamndo was right to make it clear that since its their property they will always somehow influence and exercise control on what happens in all this universities. If Anglophones want a purely Anglosaxion higher institute of learning void of all this ills we condemn then lets follow the examples of private initiatives like the case of BUST in Bamenda and Montagne.

[Louis_Mbua]

Southwesterner, there is no University system that is not spearheaded by public initiative. Universities are funded by the government but are NOT owned by them. Most Universities are autonomous and free of interference from political buccaneers so as to maintain excellence. The idea that failed and corrupt politicians must have a say on how a University is run is both academically perverse; and runs contrary of expectations in the pursuit of excellence.

Politicians can create and define policies on how Higher education is structured in a country both public and private but they cannot actually interfere on how Universities are run – public and private because this will compromise the whole ethos of the academia reducing it into a politically correct scrapheap of mediocrity producing spectacular failures rather than national and international high flyers.

[Keng]

l am very pleased with your blog and book reviews and have a suggestion. If you are interested, the Addis-Ababa based Africa Program of the UN University of Peace, Costa Rica is open to book reviews such as yours and I am convinced its audiences will benefit from them. Email me at [email protected] if you'd like to. Thanks.

[paulo laurent]

ron donofrio
i would help you achieve this goal i lived in wahington dc, fron southern cameroons, please contact me at [email protected]
paolo laurent

[Emmanuel Nchamukong]

Hi Tande,
I'm not at all surprised this is coming from you. Since your days in Cameroon post or is it the Post, your fine pen has always thrilled lovers of refined language. Your weblog "scribbles from the den" is an original idea worth encouraging. Kudos and keep up with providing quality information on cameroon and thereby participating in building our beloved country. Can you please send me your contact address?

[raki]

that was the best.be encuoraged,fight for the rights of Cameroonains who are being tramppled upon.

[John]

Great Article.. Doesn't This looks like an awesome place to begin your academic program! The True Blue Campus at St. Georges University.

[John]

http://www.sgu.edu/life-at-sgu/index.html

[MAPOH SYLVESTER YARI]

Hi Tande
the fruits of the 2006 strike which led to your wonderful article shall be reaped this December in Buea, Cameroon. It shall be peaceful this time.