MEMORANDUM

NATIONAL UNION OF TEACHERS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
- SYNES -
UNIVERSITY OF BUEA CHAPTER

MEMORANDUM
The Minister of Higher Education,

Through:
The Vice-Chancellor,
University of Buea

Your Excellency,

HARMONISATION OF UNIVERSITY PROGRAMMES TO ENHANCE THE MOBILITY OF STUDENTS FROM ONE UNIVERSITY TO ANOTHER

On Wednesday 13 May 2015, the Executive of the Union of Teachers of Higher Education (SYNES), University of Buea Chapter met to discuss the on-going scheme by the Ministry of Higher Education (MINESUP) to harmonize academic programmes so as to enhance the mobility of students from one State University to another. It became necessary for the process to be reviewed because the social, political and cultural realities of our country are not often given due consideration in policy matters. This has left some portions of the country disaffected, disenchanted and aggrieved. By giving our honest assessment of what is going on, we hope that as partners or stakeholders of higher education, we will be forestalling major sources of disagreement and discord.

The background
    On 6 May 2015, a meeting was convened at the MINESUP at the behest of the Minister of Higher Education to discuss and harmonize the academic programmes of fundamental disciplines so as to facilitate the mobility of students from one university to another during the academic year. The meeting was chaired by the Technical Adviser (No.1) in the MINESUP on behalf of the Minister. He noted that the meeting was necessary because it had come to the Minister’s notice that many students still had difficulties transferring from one university to another during the academic year. At that meeting, it was decided that the harmonization process will start with Law, Political Science and Economic and Management Sciences. The Committee proposed that Common Law be scrapped from the curriculum while the degree in Management should have Economics as the base.
   
The Spirit of the University Reforms of the 90’s
    When the Head of State instructed the University reforms of the 90’s, he wisely sought to diversify training rather than concentrate on a few disciplines which did not facilitate employment or entrepreneurship. This diversification marked the onset of professionalization of university programmes. As time went on, universities responded to the challenges of job creation and employability and have successfully professionalized the bulk of their programmes. The success of programmes like Journalism and Mass Communication, Management, Banking and Finance, Accountancy, Economics, Law etc, at the University of Buea, attest to timeliness of the reforms as their contribution to the growth and development of our economy cannot be over-emphasized. It is therefore surprising that today, the MINESUP wants to undo all the years of hard work put into the professionalization of programmes and the apparent good results by reverting to the hopeless years of the lone university.

The Distinctive Nature of the University of Buea (UB)
    The Executive Council of SYNES-UB, in concertation with its council of advisers discussed the specificities of the University of Buea and the potential ramifications of the on-going scheme on it and concluded as follows:
a. The Presidential Decree creating the University of Buea specifies that it was created in the Anglo-Saxon tradition and therefore, does not have the same complexion as other State Universities which would be more readily disposed to harmonization. This means that academic programmes and management at this institution would be tailored more towards the tradition obtained in most English-speaking countries. Some of the specificities of the University of Buea that align to these English speaking traditions include:
- The University of Buea has a Vice-Chancellor and not a Rector.
- The language of instruction there is only English, unlike other State Universities where both languages, French and English, are used.

- Academic officers (Heads of Department, Deans and the Vice-Chancellor) are derived through a collegial process; that is, lecturers have a say in who accedes to these positions.
- Admission requirements specify a minimum academic achievement and a cut-off system. Anglophones must have a pass in English at the GCE O’Level while their Francophones counterparts must either do a pre-sessional language course or pass the University English Language Proficiency Test.
b. Even before the institution of the BMP/LMD system, the University of Buea already operated a credit system and has been accepting students from other universities. It accepts PLEG 1 holders into degree programmes, students from foreign universities and organizes exchange programmes with other State Universities. However, it does not have intermediate degrees like the DEUG and the Master I&II which other State Universities offer.

Why the Harmonization Process is suspect
    The Executive Council of SYNES-UB Chapter, after considering the uniqueness of the University of Buea was of the view that the attempt to harmonize academic programmes is a continuing ploy to destroy the culture that this university symbolizes. When the University of Buea was created, it sought to develop middle level and high level manpower which will contribute to national development. Those trained in this institution should have gone through the Anglophone sub-system of education or fulfill the bypass requirements for admission. The Executive raised a number of issues that question the good faith of those who convened the meeting on harmonization:
1. Why were academic programmes of the University of Buea not included on the list of programmes to be discussed? If the programmes of the other universities were working documents to the exclusion of the University of Buea’s, it means that from the outset it was clear that our programmes were not an option to be considered even though they are regularly revised and updated to conform to international standards, market needs and the employability of our graduates. University of Buea alumni work as journalists in State, private and international media outfits, accountants, managers, economists, legal consultants etc, around the world and through their work contribute to UB’s talismanic prestige. Also, our law graduates attend Laws Schools in Britain, USA, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, or pursue post graduate studies in different countries around the world. Many compete and win international scholarships upon graduation, because
University of Buea programmes are viable and competitive. One wonders why the MINESUP wants to dismantle our academic programmes in favour of in-breeding.
2. The proposal to suppress Common Law from undergraduate Law Programme is suspect. Common Law is unique to Anglophone Cameroon and it is the foundation of legal practice in English-speaking countries while Civil Law is culturally Francophone. Why would the MINESUP envisage a Cameroon with Anglophones but without Common Law? Could it be part of a vast programme to delete everything in the legal system that identifies Anglophones in Cameroon as an existing cultural group? Besides, it eliminates the hope of making a livelihood through legal practice in the English-speaking part of Cameroon with the prospects of unemployment and poverty that this entails. Even as we write, the entire University and communities whose children are trained there, anxiously await the creation of a Law School. It will be a mark of good faith and acceptance of our bi-jural composition if our communal heartfelt wish is granted.
3. The proposal to harmonize political science may even be more sinister. The scope of political science in English is different from what it means in French. The variation in definition means that Political Science viewed from these two perspectives will have differing emphases. From the English perspective, the Department of Political Science organizes specialized interests, skills and orientations into the following subfields of study:
- Comparative Politics and development studies
- Public Administration
- International Relations and
- Political Theory
    This perspective is broader, more professionalized and offers more career opportunities than the restrictive frame of Public Law (Droit Public) when harmonized. The Political Science degree of the University of Buea, therefore, is more adapted to the graduates’ needs for employment than a harmonization will allow.
4. All over the world, the trend in economic sciences is for universities to incline towards even greater specialization according to the needs of economies and the scale of international economic challenges. It is in this light that the University of Buea created programmes in Economics, Banking and Finance, Accountancy and Management, making it possible for different students to study for and
obtain these different degrees. University of Buea graduates are bankers, managers, accountants, economists and teachers of economics etc, in Cameroon and around the world because these programmes were tailored with market needs in mind and with input from professional guilds.
Over the years, the University has continued to structure its programmes to meet international and professional standards thanks to the support of the Commonwealth Secretariat. By harmonizing our programmes to a system where students are required to obtain a general economics degree with an option in guise of specialization, the MINESUP is trying to demolish an edifice which has served the employment needs of our country and has given relevance to our university.

The contention
    What does mobility of students mean in the BMP/LMD system? Mobility means that a student can attend part of his/her course in another University and take back his/her credits to his/her university where such credit will be acceptable. Mobility does not necessarily mean transferring from one university to another during the academic year as we are made to believe. Rather, transferability of credits and not students is the main stay of the BMP/LMD system since students’ applications are treated on a case by case. Simply put, it does not mean, for instance, that just any student can obtain admission in the University of Ngaoundere and graduate from the University of Dschang.
    This mistaken notion of mobility seeks to subvert the entry requirements of Universities like Buea which does not accept applicants who have only 4 GCE O’levels, do not have a certain cut-off mark or whose proficiency in English is not certified. The entry requirements are clear as stated by the Presidential Decree and cannot be subverted or circumvented by first obtaining admission in another university and then transferring there under the guise of mobility.
    Even as a State University, the University of Buea is a symbol of the proud bi-cultural country (French and English) that Cameroon is. This bi-culturality informed the Head of State’s wisdom when he decreed in 1993 that the University of Buea be structured differently to cater for the second less dominant cultural group – Anglophones and those studying in the Anglophone sub-system of education. But over the years, a systematic effort has been deployed to undermine the specificity of this University. A number of issues lead us to this conclusion:
- Academic officers continue to be appointed although the Presidential Decree says the contrary, making it possible for such appointees to endorse without questioning, decisions and procedures that undermine the Anglo-Saxon character of the University of Buea.
- These appointments have created deep seated in-fighting which at times destabilizes the university or even almost becomes fratricidal.
- The concept of excellence has been jettisoned even in competitive entrance examinations where the MINESUP organizes admissions into professional degree programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences, for instance, and selects students without any working knowledge of English when the Presidential Decree specifies that every student must have proficiency in English. Worse still, Anglophone students are required to write entrance examinations based on French questions poorly translated into English.

Your Excellency,
    The non-inclusion of University of Buea programmes on the list of working documents reveals the phagocytic tendency of the harmonization scheme. This and other anomalies frustrate many Cameroonians whose only hope for a good life is the strict application of the Presidential Decree creating the University of Buea. The rising mound of abuse has a traumatic effect on our psyche as lecturers in this institution; it derides the quest for excellence and makes a mockery of the Anglo-Saxon character of the University of Buea. In short, this ploy is not consistent with our national objectives, save to destroy one system or render it unworkable and afflict its users with adaptation problems. One would expect the rationale for harmonization to be employability or marketability of graduates which University of Buea programmes already have. In that case, undoing University of Buea programmes will not be an option.
    We urge the Minister of Higher Education to relinquish this nefarious project that is solely designed to dismantle the Law, Political Science, Economics and Management degree programmes of the University of Buea. These programmes address the micro needs of the communities which send their children there, and respond to the wider needs of the local and international environment in which the students plan to live and work.
    The only thing this harmonization will yield is the disenfranchisement of English-speaking students in Cameroon and buttress the perennial problem of disregard for Anglophones. It will limit their opportunities and swell the desperate numbers that are roaming the streets in search of employment. It has the potential to cause discord and will heat up our polity if the MINESUP persists in that direction. We will hold the Minister of Higher Education responsible for any social unrest this will cause. Time and money should be used for more judicious ends than provoke social and political tensions. Cameroon by its very composition is bilingual, bi-cultural and bi-jural; nothing should be done to undermine this trilogy, especially not by the intellectual hub of the nation – MINESUP.
    We urge your Excellency to take every action to prevent this kind of provocation.

CC:
- The President of Senate
- The Prime Minister and Head of Government
- The President of the National Assembly
- The Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic
- Heads of Diplomatic Missions resident in Cameroon
- The SG/SYNES