Cameroon and Belgium aim to open a master’s cycle in cybersecurity with a research focus in cryptology at the University of Bamenda, in the crisis-ridden North-West region, announced the Ministry of Higher Education (Minesup).
The partnership should be established through the Academy of Research and Higher Education (ARES), the Federation of French-speaking higher education establishments in Belgium, as part of Belgian-Cameroonian university cooperation.
“This training offer will enrich the Cameroonian university system,” declared Wilfried Nyongbet Gabsa, secretary general of Minesup, during an audience granted to a delegation from the Belgian embassy and the University of Bamenda on Thursday August 31. This project also aims for exchanges with companies and constitutes an instrument for promoting public-private partnership in the field of higher education, added Myriam Delieu, deputy head of mission at the Belgian embassy in Yaoundé.
Concretely, the project consists of the construction of a Center for Cybersecurity and Mathematical Cryptology on which the training will be based, with academic and administrative autonomy. The construction of a building is “considered”, we learn. The training will be open to nearly a hundred Cameroonian and foreign students each year, including 40 for the professional option and 45 for the research option, according to Minesup. The project will benefit from Belgian funding for 5 years, then Cameroon will take over. This announcement comes in a context where the country wants to strengthen its repression system in the face of the ravages of cybercrime.
SBBC
