The University of Yaounde I inaugurates its University Digital Development Centre (UDDC)
Amidst loud cheers and applause, students of the “mother of universities”
welcomed the Minister of State, Minister for Higher Education (MINESUP).
This bond became even more obvious at the display of the facility that the
government minister had just handed over on the occasion. A state-of-the-art
building, equipped with cutting-edge technology, propelling the University of
Yaounde I into the digital university era. The tour of the building, led by
Professor Roger Atsa Etoundi, Head of the Information Systems Division at
MINESUP, showcased the features of a building that will connect all areas of
the Ngoa-Ekellé campus and link it to Cameroon’s other State universities,
thanks to a 500 megabits per second bandwidth capacity.
On his first official outing as Rector of the University of Yaounde I, Professor
Rémy Magloire Etoua hailed the presence of the University Digital
Development Centre, which is breathing new life into the campus environment.
He added that handing over the facility puts an end to questions about the
usefulness of UDDCs. According to the head of the institution, the building
helps to bridge the digital divide and contributes to the successful integration
into the digital economy, with benefits that include, amongst others: a
transformation in teaching methods, the incubation of technology projects and
an improvement in research quality. In his handover speech, Professor
Jacques Fame Ndongo, Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education, stated
that the ceremony he was presiding over marked the launch of University 4.0.
In other words, students now have a choice of four delivery methods: in-
person, distance learning, blended learning or work-study. One major
announcement was that all universities were henceforth connected via fibre-
optic cables. Furthermore, the 500 megabits per second bandwidth, which is
five times the current speed, will increase to 1000 megabits per second by
January 2025. The Minister of Higher Education thus provided the University
of Yaounde I with two IT specialists to manage the UDDC. The Minister of
State ended his speech by expressing the hope that students would make the
most of this facility offered by the President of the Republic to the youth, as
part of the E-National Higher Education Network project, the first phase of
which involved the distribution of 500 000 laptops to students.
