The Mission and Vision of CUIB remain the same: CUIB’s New President tells the University Community
The President of the Catholic University Institute of Buea CUIB, Professor Victor Julius Ngoh, has reassured the faculty, staff, students, and all the stakeholders of CUIB that the mission and vision of the institution have not changed and will not change as his team effectively took over office after being appointed by the Chancellor and Proprietor of CUIB, His Lordship Micheal Bibi.
The Revered Professor also noted that the Entrepreneurial philosophy of the institution would be enhanced to enable the students understand the existing realities of the corporate world and to be solution providers and not just job seekers.
The President talked to the institution’s Communication and PR unit one week after taking over from the former administration, which to him has done an excellent job training, job creators and job seekers that survive in the constantly changing world.
He applauded the outgoing President Rev. Fr. George Nkeze and his team for putting in place a good foundation for the growth mindset entrepreneurial university. And he stressed that his team is not coming to change the institution’s entrepreneurial road map but to contribute their ideas to make the vision and mission of CUIB meet up with the changing educational and professional landscape.
“I was with the University of Buea from 2008 right up to February 2014 as Deputy Vice Chancellor, In charge of Cooperation, Research, and Relation to the Business world, so if you are talking of entrepreneurship it involves research, cooperation and it involves working with businesses. And that was exactly what I did at the University of Buea and I can quickly add that I was involved with discussions and signing of MOUs with Cameroon Development Cooperation, Globeco and many others. As far as the entrepreneurial part is concerned students, national and international partners should have no fear. The success of course is the ability to work with the partners and to use the experts to get what is good for the Catholic University Institute of Buea. And I think my predecessor who did a fantastic job did not go to any entrepreneurial school to do a good job and he was able to use experts to produce the fruits and I see no reason why that should not apply to me” the President said.
At the level of staff and faculty collaboration with the new team, the president highlighted that most of the faculty and staff have “come back home” and are ready to effectively deliver their services to the university to continue forming the minds and hearts of the students.
“I have had appointments from one level to another. All along, the handing overs were very successful unfortunately for reasons which God alone knows why it happened we had some misunderstanding for this one. Everything that God plans, He has a solution for it, and at the end of the day, the faculty and staff who were uncomfortable have finally come back home. I went to Douala with my team, and we met with the faculty and staff. The session was very good. The feedback we got from faculty and staff reinforced our determination to ensure that we move CUIB one step further because no society is static, changes are part of life. As human beings, we should be able to embrace change. We met with the students of Douala Campus who were there for their onsite classes.
We also had a meeting with the staff and faculty of Buea Campus. It also went well, they raised some issues, and we promised to look into such as change of grade, contracts and some other issues. Our new policy ensures that CUIB has permanent faculty from the assistant lecturer, lecturer, associate professor, and professor. It has to follow the legal condition of the ministry of Higher education on how to change grades.
We also have to reinforce the academic and research component because we have discovered that CUIB hasn’t gotten a laboratory. The School of Engineering, Agriculture, and School of Information technology need labs to operate so as to ensure that CUIB graduates are well trained all round. Still, I am not saying that they have not been well trained. I want that we reinforce their skills all-round,” Professor Julius Ngoh said.
“Things have been going on well, we have been able to withstand the storm and the process of getting settled is going on. We have had meetings with faculty, staff and students, in both campuses and I must tell you the meetings were fruitful”.
Quizzed on the mission and vision of the university following the social media rumors that the new team will change the mission and vision of the school, the President said the mission and vision remain unchanged as it addresses the educational needs of Cameroon, the job markets and the ethical needs of Cameroon.
The Chancellor and the founder of CUIB have made it clear that the mission and vision remain unchanged, and we cannot divert or move away from the mission and vision.
If necessary, we only need to improve upon aspects of the mission and vision, which we think and if we think it is unnecessary, but I must emphasize that the mission and vision remain intact. The parents, students, national partners, and international partners should have confidence in us that the mission and vision remains intact”.
As to the students’ expectation from the new President and his team, Professor Julius Victor Ngoh said that the team is there for the students and to make sure that they get the best before they graduate.
“The students should expect the best and understand that the team that has been called upon to lead believes in collaboration, cooperation, team spirit alongside teamwork; in short, we believe in collective responsibility for the success of CUIB. The students and parents should be informed that my team and I will do everything to ensure that we get the best expert in the various areas to give the students what their parents expect them to get in CUIB. So we shall make use of professional experts and academic experts. We are just next door to companies in Douala and Buea. We are going to re-revive and promote the various MOUs which we have signed.
Our overall goal is to train Cameroonians not only academically, but they should be able to have experience on the job. And know that they are servants of the people, servants of the population and whatever they do they should put God at the center of their services”.
The President also assured the faculty and staff that nobody will be sacked and that his administration will also improve on workers’ working conditions and have urged them to remain collaborative and respect the school rules and regulations.
Professor Ngoh confirmed that the Talent Academy’s university outreach program will not close and will continue effectively without any interruption.
