The erstwhile Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, PCC, the Right Rev. Nyansako-Ni-Nku, has exhorted the graduating students of the University of Bamaneda, UBa, to uphold Christian values and eschew vices such as corruption and homosexuality.

The Right Rev. Nyansako was addressing the 3,241 students in an academic discourse during the fourth convocation ceremony of UBa which took place on December 5.

According to the Moderator Emeritus, homosexuality and corruption are at variance with the word of God. He urged the students to uphold Christian values and be veritable ambassadors of UBa wherever they find themselves.

The representative of the Minister of Higher Education and Pro-Chancellor of UBa, Prof. Dominique Mvogo, said the convocation ceremony is historic in the history of UBa.

According to him, since the creation of the institution in 2010, two traditional bedrock schools; the Higher Technical Training College and Higher Technical Teachers Training College have “tenaciously enjoyed the monopoly of graduating students.”

“The University, up to this day, presented more façades. But considering the broad vision and missions of the institution and the burning desire of the institution for diversity, there were more programmes in gestation that were gearing towards maturity.” Prof. Mvogo stated.

He assured the university authorities of Government’s continuous support and called on the graduating students to be good ambassadors of the institution. In his speech, the Vice Chancellor of UBa, Prof. Edward Tafah Edokat, said the fourth Convocation ceremony of UBa, was unique because the University is sending out the first “non-pedagogic” graduates of Science and Higher Institute of Commerce and Management, HICM. To him, this is just a modest beginning in a conscious plan to making the institution a knowledge production society.

“As the University of the future, patterned in the Anglo-saxon tradition, we seek to provide quality based on teaching and research in the field of human endeavours in order to address dynamic development demands.”

Prof. Edokat said in the nearest future, UBa will start churning out graduates from the College of Technology, Faculty of Health Science and the Higher Institute of Transport and Logistics. This, to him, is a mark of development.

The VC expressed gratitude to the Minister of Higher Education for the continuous support given to UBa.

“The infrastructural boost is unquestionable and the pool of human resources is appreciable.”

He, however, remarked that UBa’s interest on diversity on new programmes calls for fresh adjustments at the level of human resources. As such, the absence of qualified lecturers in some Faculties and Schools is acute and begs for urgent attention. He appealed to the Minister of Higher Education to accord UBa the opportunity to recruit qualified lecturers in the needy Faculties and Schools.

He equally pointed out the need for Government to step-up the investment budget of the institution.

“The geometrical growth of the students’ population as a result of the opening of new Schools and classical Faculties like the Faculties of Arts, Economics and Management Sciences, Law and Political Science and Education is indicative that lecture halls, laboratories, administrative and staff blocks are urgently needed. If these facilities are provided, UBa would execute with relative ease its missions and meet its prime vision of becoming a leading national institution of higher learning geared towards….. Sterling innovation,” Edokat averred.

He announced the launching of Postgraduate Programmes saying registration is ongoing and that classes will begin in January 2015.

The programmes to be offered are: Masters and Doctorate degrees, both academic and professional.