(Business in Cameroon) - In its 2020 finance bill, approved by parliament, the budget allocated to the ministry of higher education is XAF65.2 billion.

In this bill, the ministry’s operating budget has increased by XAF13.4 billion to XAF50.7 billion while its investment budget decreased by more than XAF10.2 billion. The reasons for this budgeting are still unknown but the presentation shows a real desire for change in higher education in the country.

For university research, the budget is XAF11.6 billion and the stated objective is to increase the exploitation of research results on the priority development sectors of the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper (DSCE) within no more than two years. However, the budget does not indicate whether the university research budget will be allocated exclusively to public higher education or whether it will be extended to the private sector.

Let’s note that the implementation of the DSCE has been scheduled to end this year and a post-DSCE document is in the process of being formulated.

The integration of graduates from traditional higher education faculties is also been taken into account in the budget. An allocation of XAF8.1 billion is earmarked for it. With scientific and technological fields poorly equipped and literary studies disconnected from reality, the achievement of this objective must be monitored. Finally, XAF7.4 billion will be spent to increase the number of students in technological and vocational courses.

Idriss Linge