Jomatt Polytechnic Institute Of Education

A NEW DAWN FOR CAMEROONIAN HIGHER EDUCATION. Godfrey Nji Esoh, Founder of Guzzang Technologies. October 1st, 2020. “Dear Godfrey, This is indeed wonderful news! Congratulations on becoming Coursera’s first partner in Cameroon. There is only one opportunity to be the leader and you have had the faith to do it. We are looking forward to supporting your tremendous work in the country.” These are the opening words of the email in which Kerry Houchen, the Partnerships Director of Coursera for Campus congratulated the Chief Executive Officer of Guzzang Technologies, after the official signing of a partnership agreement between Coursera and Guzzang Technologies on Tuesday, September 29th, 2020. This agreement officially creates a Higher Education Cloud Campus for Cameroon that is powered by Coursera, hosted by Jomatt Polytechnic and managed by Guzzang Technologies. The partnership was signed for Coursera by Leah Belsky, Vice President for Degrees and Certificates, and for Guzzang Technologies by Godfrey Esoh, Founder and CEO. Coursera is the world’s leading online learning platform that was founded by a team of Professors from Stanford University in 2012. As of September 2020, Coursera now has 223 partner universities and companies across 53 countries, teaching 4,979 courses that can be accessed by anyone anywhere in the world with access to a mobile device and an internet connection. Coursera is by far the world’s leader in revolutionizing higher education access, having registered over 40 million learners in just 8 short years of existence. Jomatt Polytechnic is a lay private institution of higher learning founded by the elite of Batibo Sub-division who nursed the dream of using professional higher education as a means of driving the socio-economic development of Momo Division. The institution was created by a decree of the Minister of Higher Education in 2013 and officially opened in 2016. Jomatt Polytechnic is Cameroon’s only lay private higher education institution that is fully owned and managed by the community. At the time of opening, the institution had about 120 Founding Members, a Board of Directors made up of distinguished names like Professor Peter Ndifon, Honorable Joseph Mbah Ndam, Colonel Doctor Woriwoh, and others, under the leadership of Ni Mbah Mbaku Jerry. Godfrey Esoh was appointed the Founding Rector of Jomatt Polytechnic in July 2016, and he successfully managed the process of staff recruitment, staff training, infrastructural setup, student admissions, community engagement, and official launching of classes for the 2016-2017 academic year. Unfortunately, Batibo was at the epicenter of the conflict that broke out in the English Speaking regions of Cameroon later that year, and the institution was forced to shut its doors. A Cloud Campus comes as a response to not only the school lockdown that has been going on for four years but also as an innovation that will mitigate the plethora of challenges being faced by educational establishments in Cameroon as a whole, be them public or private. These challenges include: a) Inadequate infrastructure b) Scanty laboratories and training workshops c) Almost inexistent IT infrastructure d) Rudimentary libraries with outdated books e) Insufficient numbers and quality of staff