Challenges of Industrial Development in Mining and Oil for Public Universities in Cameroon

Abstract

Wherever industrial development in the mining and oil sectors has taken place, it has been driven by higher education. However, unless the university system is led by officials who have not been involved with the extractive industries, they will lack the freedom to cover the costs of teaching programmes dedicated to producing knowledge related to the mining industry. This study has two objectives. The first is scientific and the second practical. The University of Maroua and its mining engineering programme will serve as our practical framework. Pierre Bourdieu’s constructivism, through his concepts of habitus and capital, among others, will serve as the theoretical framework for this study. Three outcomes are anticipated. The first demonstrates that having at the helm of an academic institution a leader moulded solely within the erratic sciences leads it astray and distances it from technological and extractive knowledge. The second reveals that the magic of words and elegant phrasing have failed to quench the thirst for growth and modernity. The third aims to see the university become the crucible for the dissemination of industrial, technological, practical and socio-economic values within a nation.