Vidiol Tsague, 17, inventor of an aeroplane prototype has been offered a four-year scholarship to study at the Afhemi University of Technology, AUT, based in Mabamda-Kumba.
The offer from AUT comes to fulfil the young inventor’s wish to become an engineer so he can build a passenger plane that can fly Cameroon’s airspace and beyond.
The fruit of Vidiol’s eight years of hard work is seen in his aeroplane prototype presented to the world through Mimi Mefo Info weighs approximately 3.2 kilogrammes and about two metres in length.
The young investor’s father, 60-year-old Mouafo Jean Claude says his failing eyesight has depleted his savings, making it impossible for him to continue funding his son’s project.
The Talent Scholarship Award from Afhemi University of Technology thus seeks to assist the young inventor with his future educational studies in a bid to improve on his exceptional talent recently demonstrated by the creation of an aeroplane prototype.
Alfred N. Funteh, Ph.D., Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs at AUT says they will provide Vidiol with full tuition fees worth FCFA 550,000 annually for the entire four-year degree programme in the Department of Aeronautic Engineering or any other department in AUT’s Institute of Applied Engineering and Technology.
“This scholarship award takes effect immediately after your success in the GCE Advanced Level or Baccalaureate Examination,” the AUT Talent Scholarship Award read and signed by Vidiol’s father states in part. “It will be under special circumstances and considerations that the University will subsidize the living standards of any student they deem are in despair. This can only be achieved by documented proof of the family income of the applicant.”
AUT authorities say the Talent Scholarship awarded to Vidiol can be deferred upon request.
AUT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor speaks
Contacted to shed light on the AUT Talent Scholarship Award, Dr. Funteh, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, DVC, for Academics at AUT said he got to know of Vidiol’s projects on Mimi Mefo Info’s Facebook Page – being an ardent follower of MMI on Facebook and Twitter.
On why AUT offered this scholarship and what the young inventor stands to gain, Dr. Funteh said: “I was motivated by the enthusiasm of the kid in what he was doing. I saw that he had some talents in him and if we as a community assist him in building on those his desires, we’ll in the long run have skilled professionals who will be productive and resourceful to the country. Again, it’s well documented in this country that a lot of young talents in many other domains have been lost and wasted because of poor or lack of counseling. Subsequently, the country will lose skilled manpower.
“Firstly, the scholar will acquire high-quality education modelled to that of universities like MIT and Harvard being the best in the world. Secondly, he will be allowed to study and be guided in what has been his childhood dream without the stress of thinking of assembling huge tuition.
“Thirdly, he will grow up with confidence to be competitive with his peers in the developed world since he will cover almost the same curriculum here in AUT. Fourthly, upon graduation, he will be able to have obtained entrepreneurial skills and on-the-job skills in the course of his academic training.
In partnership with Mimi Mefo Info, AUT seeks to identify talents who have no voice and might get missing in the villages around the country if left undetected.
Hear Dr. Funteh: “AFHEMI University of Technology is a newly created University in Cameroon. We are still in the Second Semester of the first year. The concept of this University was fashioned by University Dons/Professors from Cameroon, Western Europe, and the USA. From its inception, we thought about using the high educational standards of the top-ranked Universities in the World and making sure to remain competitive by using our rich natural resources and human resources we are proud of in our kids.
“So, we have to identify those talents in every domain or field of studies in our children at a very early age while allowing them to prosper. Some of these extraordinarily talented kids may come from poor backgrounds but with no possibility of higher studies and live out their dreams. That is the reason for the Scholarship.”
AUT says should the scholarship awardee perform poorly, their scholarship offer will be terminated. The university’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academics says such a clause is intended to make scholarship holders work very hard to achieve their dreams.
“The scholarship may be the only financial possibility for the student and we’ll want to make it reasonable for laziness not to catch up with them. The students are given all the tools to succeed. The University recruits the best lecturers in every subject taught in AFHEMI. In case we do not have those lecturers in the country we will look for such expertise abroad,” said Dr. Funteh.
The University don adds that: “AUT has one of the best Libraries in Sub-Sahara Africa and still building. So the students will be supplied with modern Textbooks to make them competitive and well informed in their various fields of study. Also, for students still as young as Vidiol, we will still be counseling him and the parents to remain alert and to have a liking for those subjects that are very vital for that particular career path.”
We at AUT will do our best for Tsague Vidiol to acquire holistic skills towards achieving his dreams.
Dr. Funteh adds that AUT stands out among other institutions of higher learning. “In AUT, the academic workload is very heavy. Our students are expected to read a lot of textbooks and research material which are all supplied by the university. Entrepreneurship is at the center of all the fields of study in AUT, so students will be expected to develop a very competitive mindset once they arrive K-Town (Kumba). The teaching staff is there to assist all the students to achieve their dreams.
“AUT was created to act as a high standard-setter University for responsible citizenship and sustainable development in Sub-Sahara Africa. Its corporate entrepreneurial set up will also ignite the ingenuity in the rich human and natural resources in the Cameroons while creating a conducive environment for invention, discovery, research, and production of new things. All courses offered in AUT are professional with entrepreneurship at the core.”
(C) Mimi Mefo Info
