University of Buea:

Prof. Roland Ndip, UB Registrar

Semester results spark criticism
By Ajongakou Santos in Buea
University of Buea students have fiercely criticised the recent innovation that demands they “buy” their end-of-semester results from a popular mobile telephone network of the country. The move which began this year has been seen as exploitative because of the prize tag imposed on the students.
    According to several UB students, they have to pay the fluctuating sums of 1000frs, 500frs and 300frs CFA respectively to have access to their end-of-semester results. Many of them say the idea of getting their results online is in itself not bad, but horrible as these results have been commercialised.
    The switch from analogue to embrace the social media and its platforms is seemingly the raison-d’etre for the confusion that looped the entire university community (students, lecturers, top administrators) given that most students who are basic users and can barely understand the demands of the internet found it difficult, if not problematic to access their results. Since most of these “internet laggards” could not access their results easily, most cyber café owners in Buea and internet gurus used this platform to make hundreds of thousands to themselves. This is seemingly part of what sparked the unending-debate in the University of Buea recently as most students are yet to get a grasp of why they should be subjected to paying FCFA 300 (stipulated price by the Vice Chancellor) to have access to their results.

    When the Median spoke to most UB students, majority saluted the idea of getting results online; emphasising that students could now have access to their results without necessarily coming to Buea as was the case in previous semesters. A good number of them similarly, confessed that the whole system is plagued with mistakes (wrong CA marks, wrong Exam marks, No Exam marks & others) that leave most of them doubtful if the University’s latest innovation was a well-conceived, but poorly executed project.

Reaction:
    In the midst of the confusion, fear and anxiety, the Median Newspaper spoke to the Registrar of the University of Buea, Prof. Roland Ndip, asking him to explain whether or not, the University of Buea was coping the example of the Cameroon GCE Board who recently published results but gave them to the very view who could afford the FCFA 15000 price-tag to make money from these results.

    Sir, its good news that the University of Buea now publishes her end-of-semester results online. It most has been a long journey to get here. Has it not?
    This whole process started some time ago when the University started with just four faculties of this university, in which majority of its activities and work was done online. Today, we are happy to see that, our University has finally embraced the system completely. It is true that the online registration platform has always been a problem to us; I think we have fought a good fight and that’s why a UB student can today get their results even from a different region of this country.
    Prof. the University of Buea seems to have broken another record. Your University seems to be the first of all 8 state universities of the country to “sell” students’ results. Is UB selling results professor?
    No, no, no, UB is not selling results. We have never done so, and we will never sell results. The issue is we are one of the first to have results published via the internet.
    But there is money involved sir. If we were to multiply FCFA 300 by the over 17.000 University of Buea student population we will be talking of some 500.000 FCFA. How much is UB making from this fallout?
    Nothing. The University is making nothing from this money involved. 300 Francs cannot be used to run a university. It’s true that MTN Cameroon is offering us the platform to put these results online. They money, I mean all the money is given to them. This money is just to make run the system.     You should want to know that each student in the University needs over 500.000FCFA to study until graduation. If we consider that each student pays 50.000 as tuition fee, how much money do we expect the state to subsidise for each student? The state does not give us this money per say.
    Are you saying the University of Buea is using such money from students to run its affairs?
    I did not say so.
    Prof. we are not far from resit examinations in the University, majority of your students if not all have errors on their results. What is the University doing to address this issue given that most of these students are graduating this December?
    We are doing so much. The University is working day and night to see that this issue is properly addressed. The confession is that, the results are changing every day. This also means officials are working seriously to correct all these errors. Soonest, I mean in the next Two weeks all will be okay. Students and the whole University community will soon see that this innovation is satisfactory. Nothing good comes easy, we must always know that. We will certainly get there some day.
    Soon after this interview with the Registrar; over the weekend, the Median Newspaper learned that much has changed in the system. Many students have testified that there has been a sundry change in their results. Corrections have so far been effected and the online platform more pleasing than ever before. Majority who decried the whole system from start have termed this novelty; Pyric Victory.