The government of Tunisia has since the early 1970s offered scholarships to hundreds of Cameroonian students as part of the scheme to train young people from Francophone Africa.

The Tunisian Ambassador to Cameroon, His Excellency Jalel Snoussi, disclosed this in Yaounde on Friday, October 9, 2015 at a farewell reception for five Cameroonian scholarship recipients in his residence in the Golf neighbourhood of Bastos.

The Ministry of Higher Education – which carried out the selection of the students – was represented at the event by Balla Solange, Sub-Director in charge of Students’ Assistance. The students left Cameroon for Tunisia on Sunday, October 11, 2015.

Depending on needs and the capacity of Tunisian universities to receive foreign students, the Ambassador said his government offers three categories of scholarships to Cameroon each year. There are for undergraduate university studies, vocational training and in the Institute of Islamic Civilisation.

Of the five Cameroonian students who received scholarships for undergraduate studies, two will read Computer-based Management, two, Mathematics, while the last one is going in for engineering preparatory training. While calling on the recipients to be worthy ambassadors for Cameroon in Tunisia, Jalel Snoussi expressed regret that his Embassy did not receive any response this year from relevant Cameroonian ministries on advertised scholarships for vocational training and for admission into the Tunisian Institute of Islamic Civilisation.

He said the opportunities were already missed for this year because of the delays. According to Tunisian Embassy sources, between 1,000 and 1,200 Cameroonians are issued visas each year to study in Tunisia on their own sponsorship.