Quest for Academic Excellence, Professionalism:

Customs Dept. & B’da Varsity seal Partnership Deal

By Njodzefe Nestor

DG of Customs and UBa VC signing the MOU

The University of Bamenda, UBa has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cameroon’s Directorate of customs, a feat which formalizes the already fruitful partnership between the parties.

                The MOU was signed on Monday January 14, 2018 during the launching of the International Customs Day at the Esplanade of the SDO of Mezam chaired by North West Governor, Adolf Lele Lafrique.

                Speaking during the ceremony, the Director General of Customs, Edwin Fongod Nuvaga said the MOU was intended to assist the University of Bamenda become an “international center of excellence”.

                The DG who was making his first official visit to the North West after his appointment said that amongst other things, the MOU gives students of the school the School of Transport and Logistics the opportunity to do internships in the various customs departments in Cameroon and the possibility of certified technicians from the Cameroon’s Customs Department to come to the school and teach some of the courses.

                Corroborating the Director General, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Bamenda, Prof. Nkuo Akenji Therese added that the official signing of the MOU was simply to formalize the already existing fruitful collaboration between the University and the customs department.

                While thanking the Director General of Customs for always standing by the University of Bamenda, the VC announced that the Customs department will forever constitute an integral part of the University while reiterating that the partnership is only for academic reasons.

                On his part, the Governor of the North West region while lauding the partnership encouraged other economic operators to “join the bandwagon” and seal fruitful and sustainable partnerships with the University of Bamenda, the University of the Future.

                The Higher Institute of Transport and Logistics (HITL) is the youngest of the professional schools at the University of Bamenda, the University of the Future!

It was created following Presidential Decree No. 2010/3/372 of 14th December, 2010, organizing The University of Bamenda.

                Following the publication of the results of her first Competitive Entrance Examination of the 28th November, 2014 by the Minister of Higher Education, on the 9th of January, 2015, HITL opened its doors to the first batch of one hundred successful candidates distributed in the following Departments: Land Transport, Maritime Transport and Transit and Logistics.

                HITL is a pure professional institution established along the lines of Cameroon’s new University Governance with emphasis on the need for trainees to be effectively operational upon graduation. It currently runs programmes in Customs, Land Transport, Maritime Transport and Transit and Logistics. The Air Transport programme is being fine-tuned.  In line with the Government recommendations on professionalization for a better training-employment matching, 70% of the courses are taught by experts from the corporate world of Transport and Logistics and 30% essentially made up of general courses by academic staff of the University of Bamenda and other state Universities in Cameroon.