The University off Dschang has officially kicked off its new academic year with the determination to weather all storms on its way.
The launching of the new school year took place on campus last Friday, November 19 and was presided over by the Rector of the institution, Professor Roger Tsafack Nanfosso.
The ceremony placed under the theme “YEAR OF Collective Dynamics” brought together undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students and teachers at amphi 1000 on campus A.
Chairing the ceremony, the Rector of the University of Dschang used the opportunity to review the previous academic year which he described as a success before projecting into the perspectives for the new year as he welcomed the increase in the number of vocational training programmes.
“We want to be an entrepreneurial university. That is, making sure that students graduate from the Dschang University, they have the skills that give them the ability to start a business,”the Rector said. He noted that the vocational training courses at the University of Dschang are successful in view of the number of professional dissertations produced and also welcomed the increasing number of PhDs.
The Rector of the University of Dschang congratulated the lecturers for their scientific output. The number of scientific publications has increased from 466 last year to 618 this year. He admitted, however, that for publication of books much work still needs to be done. On the other hand, the e-learnig issue has been so mainstreamed that the Covid-19 pandemic did not affect the institution. In total, 122 seminars and conferences were organized online by the institution which “shows the ability of the University of Dschang to integrate digital challenges”.
The rector welcomed the increase in the number of teachers at the highest grades. Nine of them became lecturers and 19 lecturers. However, he questioned the drop in enrollment for new students (28,675 students compared to 30,032 students in the previous academic year) but welcomed the interest shown in his university by foreigners. 1929 non-Cameroonian students were admitted against 1396 the previous academic year. As far as teachers are concerned, the figures are on the rise. There are 692 against 618 last year including 144 recently hired as part of the recruitment of Phd teachers.
On the prevailing health context, Professor Tsafack Nanfosso expressed worries on the damage caused by Covid-19 in his institution and sounded the alarm.
“In September, we had 1391 negative cases and 60 positive case. It’s too much. In October there were 321 negatives but still 11 positives. We have barely already tested 37 people this month in which we are, we already have a case. … We have lost colleagues from this disease. Please, I urge us to be extremely careful,” the Rector pleaded with the academic community.
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