Students of the School of Engineering Douala Campus praise CUIB President for his prompt reaction to their challenges.
Professor Victor Julius Ngoh,
President of the Catholic University Institute of Buea has enjoined the faculty of the School of Engineering to be more prudent in the teaching and learning process within the School and above all put the students at the center of their activities.
He was speaking at the Douala campus on Monday 29th March 2021 during an important meeting to look into the pedagogic and administrative activities of the School of Engineering that had enormous challenges during the first semester and to bring some order within the school.
The president was accompanied by the Chief Academic officer Dr. Asobo Napoleon and their first meeting was with the faculty and top administration of the Douala campus in which the president wanted to get first hand information on the challenges faced by the School of Engineering based on the information he had received while in Buea.
Professor Ngoh, took time to explain their mission to the Douala campus in which he highlighted that it is to see into the problems being faced by the school of Engineering and to look for ways to address them for the smooth functioning of the academic activities in the mentioned school.
“I want you all to be frank and honest in your discussion and I want to understand the exact problem of the School of Engineering,” he told the faculty and top administration of the Douala Campus, the President of CUIB was not happy with the way the School of Engineering is handled by the Dean, based on the fact that some first semester courses were not properly delivered and as a result were pushed to the second semester. He also highlighted the lack of flow of information between the Dean and the other faculty members.
He warned against negligence in the school and scolded the Dean on the need to improve on communication and collaboration between his faculty and students.
With his rich wealth of administrative and professional experience in the academic circle, the President gave the opportunity to all the participants to express their worries and to propose a way forward for top management to resolve these challenges permanently.
After a two-hour deliberation between the President and the Douala administration on the subject matter, the delegation met with the students of the School of Engineering to listen to their own version of the story and to get their own proposed solutions to their challenges.
The president pleaded with the students to be objective and frank while expressing their challenges; “We have come to listen to you dear students, please be frank, honest but polite and don’t be afraid to speak your mind and do that with mutual respect. We are here for you all to tell us what your challenges are,” Professor Ngoh told the students.
The students expressed their challenges and also complained about poor communication between them and their Dean. The students also talked about the difficulties in getting internship placement and wanted the school to facilitate their process. Some students also raised the issue of non-respect of school time tables by some faculty in their school and at the end the president told them that all their challenges will be resolved.
The students were happy with the president and his team for taking out time to personally come to Douala on a Monday to listen to their complaints. The meeting with the students was fruitful and the students left satisfied. The president later met with his team after listening to the students and gave firm instructions to the Dean of the School of Engineering to ensure that the time table for this second semester is published, to provide the course outlines to the students, to ensure that the students have all their courses on the Online Course Registrar (OCR) platform and to carry out proper orientation to his students.
The Provost Dr. Asobo Napoleon told the Dean of the School of Engineering that he must enhance collaboration with the other Deans and faculty members in his school. He told the Dean that only teamwork can produce great results. The President concluded his visit by thanking the members of the University for their Collaboration and reminded them that only teamwork can build CUIB.
