Students to be linked to cyberspace

As Cameroon carries out a programme to develop advanced digital infrastructure in all its universities, Jacques Fame Ndongo, the minister for higher education, visited the two universities in Yaoundé to inspect the project’s progress.

A total of nine digital centres are being built, eight at the country’s national universities and one at the Cameroon-Congo Interstate University at Sangmélima, reported Cameroon Tribune of Yaoundé.

The construction of the centres is part of the “Paul Biya Higher Education Vision” project, in which Cameroon’s President Biya undertook to provide 500,000 laptops for students, under an agreement with a Chinese company.

“The aim of this project is to link all Cameroon students to planetary cyberspace, making them citizens of the world. This is why the head of state is donating computers to the students,” said Ndongo.

The facilities would be equipped with features based on cutting-edge technology, including digitisation and production of multimedia courses, distance education, and software including e-Academic, e-Learning and e-Library, reported Cameroon Tribune. All state universities would be interconnected through the national centre of interuniversity supervision.

“A teacher will be able to teach a course from their office and the course will be followed by students in other universities in the country. That will be resource sharing,” said Roger Etoundi Atsa, head of the information systems division at the higher education ministry.

The construction of the development centres in Yaoundé visited by Ndongo would be completed by the end of October, reported Cameroon Tribune. – Compiled by Jane Marshall

This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.