Audience granted by the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education to the Secretary of State in charge of Higher Education of the Federative Republic of Brazil

The Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education received in audience, this Monday 18 April 2022, a Brazilian delegation led by Wagner VILLAS BOAS DE SOUSA, Secretary of State in charge of Higher Education of the Federative Republic of Brazil who will stay in Cameroon until April 23. The meeting between the two personalities aimed at :
Reinvigorating the University Cooperation between Cameroon and Brazil
Discoursing on agreements and conventions signed with some Cameroonian Universities
Discoursing on the Higher Education Conventional Programme (PEC-G-Graduation, PEC-PG-Post-Graduate), which allows foreign students to be exempted from selection criteria for admission into Brazilian Universities
While wishing a warm welcome and a pleasant stay to the delegation in Cameroon, the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education praised the relations of friendship and cooperation that bind the two countries, through the Framework Agreement on Cultural and Technical Cooperation signed on 14 November 1972 in Yaounde; and the Protocol for the implementation of the Cultural Agreement between the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Government of the Republic of Cameroon on Higher Education, signed on 11 April 2005 in Yaounde, to establish preferential links for scientific cooperation, particularly in the fields of culture, literature and human sciences.
Professor Jacques FAME NDONGO also expressed the wish that this cooperation be intensified in the university sector with which, fortunately, the Brazilian and Cameroonian Universities are already linked through certain instruments among which:
The cooperation agreement between the University of Ngaoundere and the Universidade de Brasilia of 2013;
The cooperation agreement between the University of Yaounde I and the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, signed on 8 September 2010;
The cooperation agreement between the University of Yaounde I and the Universidade de Estadual de Feira de Santa, signed on 28 March 2012 (Brazil).
Regarding the programme of the Brazilian delegation’s visit that will be marked by the signature of several cooperation agreements with Cameroonian Universities, it seems obvious to the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education that the above list will be lengthened.
Taking the floor after the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education, Mr Wagner VILAS BOAS DE SOUSA, Brazilian Secretary of State for Higher Education, while thanking his host for the welcome extended to him and his delegation, mentioned that his country is open to all forms of cooperation aimed at developing countries like Cameroon through education. Professor Valdiney VELOSO GOUVEIA, Rector of the Federal University of Paraiba, shares this vision and hopes that the cooperation will lead to concrete achievements beyond the agreements that will be signed. In the same vein, Professor Edmar TAVARES DA COSTA, Vice-Rector in charge of Cooperation at the University of Para, wishes to increase the number of African students in Brazilian Universities.
It is within this framework that we should welcome the Higher Education Convention Programme (PEC-G-Graduation, PEC-PG-Post-Graduate) proposed to Cameroon by the Brazilian partner.
At the end of the audience, the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education requested that his host should act with dispatch on three points:
the teaching of the Portuguese language in Cameroonian Universities through the assignment of teachers by Brazil as stated in the 2005 Agreement;
the densification and diversification of scholarship and exemption programmes offered by Brazil;
the establishment of jointly agreed mechanisms to issue equivalence of diplomas
On the first point, the Brazilian Secretary of State for Higher Education assured that he will enter discussions with his country’s Minister of External Relations in order to assess the feasibility. On the second point, he reassured the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education, of the actions that will be taken to ensure that Cameroon benefits more from diversified scholarships. On the third point, the Brazilian Secretary of State for Higher Education indicated that all measures will be taken to facilitate the delivery of equivalence of diplomas in accordance with Brazilian regulations which give a central place to Universities.
CELCOM/MINESUP