Across many state universities in Cameroon and beyond, a familiar crisis looms: graduates, even with years of study behind them, leave campus clutching degrees but struggling to find work. The mismatch between traditional academic training and the demands of a technology-driven job market has become a silent but urgent national concern.
Dr Sylvanus Ngu Wara
It is this challenge and the solutions it desperately needs that drove Educational Consultant and EdTech Strategist Dr. Sylvanus Ngu Wara to undertake a doctoral research at the University of Maroua’s Doctorate School of Human and Social Sciences.
Supervised by Professor Galy Mohamadou, a respected psychologist and interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Ngu Wara’s dissertation explored the digital transformation of higher education as a catalyst for 21st-century skills. His research scrutinised why classical faculty graduates often face limited job prospects and charted how technology can close this gap.
In a rigorous three-hour and twelve-minute defence before a jury of six professors, his findings were described by Jury President Professor Bachir Bouba as “strategically relevant, innovative, and solution-driven.” The work, they said, does more than diagnose the problem but it offers a practical roadmap for institutions seeking to modernise teaching, embrace digital tools, and align curricula with market realities.
One of his core recommendations is the systematic adoption of distance education not as an emergency measure but as a standard pillar of academic delivery. Fittingly, his defence itself was conducted entirely online, attracting hundreds of participants worldwide, embodying the very transformation he advocates.
Awarded an A, Excellence, the jury urged that his proposals be integrated into national education strategies to ensure graduates leave university with employable skills. This would involve targeted investment in digital platforms, curriculum reforms, and faculty training to prepare students for an economy where technology underpins nearly every sector.
Beyond academia, Dr. Sylvanus Ngu Wara is the Founder and CEO of Transformation Concepts Businesses (T-Concepts Businesses LLC), a hybrid education and consulting firm specialising in EdTech research, teacher training, faculty lecturing, data science, employability, and consulting. His career reflects the same mission his research champions: connecting education with opportunity through technology.
In a note of gratitude, Dr. Wara or Dr. Sylva, as he prefers thanked the Ministry of Higher Education and the University of Maroua “for providing the platform to explore solutions that matter for our society’s future.”
If embraced, his proposals could mark a turning point not just for the universities that adopt them, but for the generations of graduates who will step into the world ready to thrive in a digital age.
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Newsroom
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