Access to foreign Universities

International Baccalaureat Program launched in Cameroon
By Sarah Nkongho Ojong on assignment in Yaounde
A high school program leading to the worldwide renowned International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma will begin in Cameroon as from the 2014/2015 academic year.
    The IB program would be run at the Complex Scolaire La Gaiete situated at Nouvelle Route Bastos in Yaounde. The complex is a subsidiary of the South Africa-based Enko capital.
    According to Cyrille Nkontchou, managing partner of Enko capital, the advantage of the International Baccalaureate (IB) is that its holders can gain easy access to the best universities in the world, especially because the IB has worldwide recognition, unlike the Cameroon Baccalaureate and GCE ‘A’ levels which are at times doubted by some universities thus warranting their holders to write a test before they can gain admission into these universities.

    “We are not saying that the Cameroon Baccalaureate is not good enough. The problem is that it does not enjoy worldwide recognition like the IB Diploma does,” Cyrille Nkontchou said, affirming that with the IB Diploma you don’t need a test for university admission.
    “Entering such universities like Harvard, Oxford, MIT, University of Cape Town etc. is a challenge. Admission processes are often specific to each university and hard to decode. Moreover, Cameroonian schools are not always known by such universities,” says Justine Kontchou, founder of La Gaiete school complex.
    The IB program is therefore, a 3-year program in English which embraces international standards. It also gives guidance to candidates in choosing and seeking admission to the right universities.
    It would be animated by both foreign and local teachers trained through a dedicated development plan.
    Moreover, the Complex La Gaiete which runs the program is equipped with new, modern, hi-tech classrooms, ICT rooms, a multi-media center, science lab, swimming pool and play grounds.
    Admission into the IB program is open to ambitious students of between 14-16 years of age, who must be fluent in English and who have good results at the ‘O’ levels and are aspiring to study in the best universities abroad.