BUEA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY TRAILS A NEW BLAZE

It is four years since the Catholic University Institute of Buea, popularly known by the acronym, CUIB, went operational, after being duly and formally authorized by  the Minister of Higher Education.

Although the institution was coming into a town where there was already a university, it hit  the ground running with a charted path of its own. Owned by the Catholic Diocese of Buea and therefore having as its prorprietor the Most Reverend Dr. Bishop Dr. Immanuel Bushu, CUIB carved out an identity called  itself “the entrepreneurial university”. The bishop holds that together, Cameroonians can make the country to be like the big nations and cities of the world. He reckons that Cameroon has a lot of resources which only need to be tapped.

The university describes itself as one whose doors are open to “all those searching for knowledge irrespective of nationality, religion, race and language.” Its mission is to “prepare professional servant leaders with moral and spiritual values who will contribute to the sustainable development of their communities”. Its vision is to “bring hope to the students and awaken in them a sense of purpose and direction so that they may achieve social, economic, spiritual, cultural and environmental well-being in their communities in particular and the nation at large”. The institution has another aspect of its identity to which it attaches great importance. It is the `EoC`, meaning `Economy of Communion`, which the university`s Pro-Chancellor and President, Dr. Fr. George Nkeze Jingwa (Doctor of Education) has described as a philosophy incorporating the holy mass, “the greatest act of communion”. According to Dr. Fr. Jingwa, EoC is used for sharing,meditating, ritual celebrations,conferences, group work, tutoring and inspirational talks.” 

The provost of the university is Prof. Wilfred Ndongko, a renowned economist who has made his name nationally and internationally.The institution`s other governing instances include a Board of Trustees, a Council, a Steering Committee, an Academic Board, the various schools and departments.

Recently, the Pro-Chancellor and President had an opportunity to tell the world about the unique vocation of the university. This was during the recent 9^th Council Session. Dr. Fr. Jingwa described the institution as one which has “a paradigm shift in Cameroon`s higher education” structure. This, he said, was built on the entrepreneurial spirit: “We have designed programmes on excellence and we are set to help existing structures and companies re-orientate their focus, build the capacity of their staff and improve on their rate of excellence.”

On the specific subject of entrepreneurialship, the Pro-Chancellor and President says in his introduction to the 2013-2014 University Bulletin: “In our country we continue to see and hear stories of corruption and misappropriation of funds meant for the common good. We continue to see and hear stories of banks starting off well and collapsing because someone embezzled all the money. A true and genuine entrepreneurial education must also foster sriritual and moral values.”

The university runs five schools for now. These are respectively for business; information technology; engineering; catholic studies; and agriculture and natural resources. In addition, it runs an HND programme.

Regarding the future, the Pro-Chancellor and President says: “There is no doubt that CUIB is moving towards exciting moments. Sometime this academic year we will be graduating our thrid batch of HND students and in December 2014 we will have the maiden edition of our undergraduate degree holders. Since we do not hope soon to begin graduate programmes, we are establishing collaboration with other universities in the world, particularly Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States to enable our students to go out to the world and spread the CUIB culture.”

Surely, with such a unique programme, the university is destined to go far.

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Further details can be obtained from: The Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB), P.O. B ox 563, Buea, South West Region, Republic of Cameroon. TEL: (237) 3332 2829 FAX: (237) 3332 2829. EMAIL: info@cuib-cameroon.net WEBSITE: www.cuib-cameroon.net.