Cameroon: Yaounde

In cooperation with Middlebury College, this program provides language intensive academic and experiential learning through a rigorous curriculum comprised of university courses and program-specific courses. As Cameroon’s economic and political capital, Yaoundé is the ideal place for cultural immersion into Francophone African life combined with rigorous academic study.

Students come in at the intermediate-advanced level of French and adhere to Middlebury’s language pledge to reap the benefits of linguistic immersion. By living and studying with Cameroonians and getting involved in the community through volunteer work, internships, and extracurricular activities, students can build authentic relationships and integrate fully into life in Yaoundé.

Based at the Université catholique d’Afrique centrale (UCAC), with all classes conducted entirely in French, students on this program will be able to take courses at the Middlebury College Center and alongside their Cameroonian peers at the university in several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

Yaoundé is the capital of Cameroon and, with a population of more than 2.8 million, the second largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region of the nation at an elevation of about 2,500 ft above sea level. Dramatically spread over seven hills, Yaoundé features a host of art deco, independence-era and 1970s government buildings in various exuberant styles.

Onsite Staff: The Resident Director of the Middlebury School in Cameroon is Christiane Magnido. Christiane states: “I am a native of Cameroon, and I am passionate about education. I hold a master’s degree in business management from the University of Dschang and a master’s degree in development and peace from the Protestant University of Central Africa. I recently joined Middlebury Schools Abroad as Director of the School in Cameroon. Before Middlebury, I was the Academic Director of SIT Study Abroad in Cameroon for 17 years. In this position, I oversaw the administration of the program, designed the academic program and syllabi for five program courses, taught the research method and ethics course, and a virtual course on women’s rights and resilience in conflict situations. I recruited relevant and experienced professors for lectures and worked with program staff, partner institutions and internship providers for conducive field-based learning for students. I also facilitated students’ learning and experiences in the classroom, during field activities, and in the community. Before SIT, I worked with the Peace Corps for five years as a cross-cultural, language, homestay coordinator, and co-technical trainer for the Small Enterprise Development project. I supported Peace Corps volunteers during pre-service training in learning the target language, adapting to living with Cameroonian homestay families, integrating smoothly into the community, and understanding how small businesses and microfinance institutions worked in Cameroon. With a team of French trainers, I wrote a French manual for trainees and trainers of the Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced levels.”

Requirements Fulfilled:

General Education - This program fulfills the Global Perspectives general education requirement for students who successfully complete 8 or more semester credits.

Major Requirements: This program fulfills the overseas study requirements for the French Studies major, and the World Languages Major with French as the primary language.

Credits: Credit varies based on courses completed, but students may earn up to 19 credits. Overloads are not permitted.

Curriculum: 

Students at the Middlebury School in Cameroon take a combination of Middlebury Program courses and courses at the host university, the Université catholique d’Afrique centrale. 

Middlebury Program courses: Each semester, two program courses will be offered that focus on culture, social sciences, language, and literature. These will be taught in French by local faculty. 

University courses: The Université catholique d’Afrique centrale enrolls 4,000 students. Students take intensive courses for 4-6 weeks alongside Cameroonian peers in the beginning of the semester, and then take either two courses of 36 credit hours or three courses of 24 credit hours. Course offerings differ in the fall and spring semesters.

Fall Semester:

- Introduction à la science politique (24)
- Histoire des idées politiques (24)
- Enseignement social de l’église (24)
- Relations internationales (24)
- Culture, identités et mondialisation (24)
- Histoire de la pensée sociologique (24)
- Étude des auteurs d’anthropologie (24)
- Sociologie de la famille (24)
- Institution sociale et solidarité (24)
- Introduction à la psychologie générale (24)
- Église, Etat, et société (24)
- Droits de l’homme (24)
- Éthique familiale (24)
- Politiques économiques (24)
- Sociologie historique de l’Etat (24)
- Introduction à l’analyse économique (36)
- Sociologie générale (36)
- Introduction au droit (36)
- Introduction à l’anthropologie sociale (36)
- Sociologie politique (36)
- Partis politiques et système des partis (36)
- Analyse politique de l’Afrique (36)
- Psychologie générale (36)

Spring Semester:

- Sociologie urbaine (24)
- Morale fondamentale (24)
- Sociologie du travail (24)
- Sociologie des religions (24)
- Étude d’auteurs de sociologie (24)
- Sociologie des organisations (24)
- Introduction à l’anthropologie de la sante (24)
- Anthropologie politique (24)
- Géographie humaine et économique de l’Afrique centrale (24)
- Géopolitique et mondialisation (24)
- Sociologie électorale (24)
- Éthique générale (24)
- Droit constitutionnel et institutions politiques (36)
- Histoire de la pensée anthropologique (36)
- Régimes politiques (36)
- Anthropologie du genre (36)
- Démographie (36)
- Droit pénal général (36)
- Systèmes politiques contemporains (36)
- Analyse des conflits (36)
- Politique comparée (36)
- Droits des régimes matrimoniaux et des successions (36)
- Doit social (36)
- Culture des peuples d’Afrique Centrale (12)

Please note that course offerings may vary by semester - these lists are meant to give students an idea of the kinds of courses that are offered, but it isn’t guaranteed that all of these courses will be offered in a given semester.

Excursions: Field trips are organized by the program to take students out of the city and discover other regions of Cameroon. These excursions constitute an extension of the classroom learning environment, and provide valuable experiential learning opportunities for students to be exposed to, and interact with, local life and local systems. Independent travel may happen on weekends or during Spring Break, generally in-country and with host families.

Housing: The Middlebury School in Cameroon provides living arrangements with families hosting a single student, a hallmark of all French Studies overseas studies programs.

Host families are typically upper middle-class families. They are usually able to accommodate dietary restrictions and afford students private rooms. They tend to live close to the city and academic activities. Students may use public transportation or affordable taxi transportation. The home environment is one where students are able to communicate exclusively in French, whether with their host families or with in-home staff with childcare and house responsibilities. Students are considered an integral part of their host families, supporting and expanding the immersive academic dimension characteristic of the whole program through the language pledge.

Extracurricular Activities: Students attend sports competitions at the UCAC, and socialize with locals through choir, dance and other activities.

“Yaoundé is a big and fun city. For the first comers to Africa, it always takes some time to adjust to how the cities function. It is super fun and chaotic. Public transport consists of shared taxis. People are extremely friendly. You can make friends easily. Fun places to go to are restaurants, bars, markets, especially artisanal.”

“I loved the courses at the Middlebury Centre, I learned so much during the literature class about life in Cameroon, the culture, and improved my french level in [this] class. The history class was also great to understand more about Cameroon.”

“This program is a great opportunity to really put into question everything you know about your way of life. For me, it really helped me to realize the limits we create when we think one way of doing or living is right and the others are wrong. This program will help you learn the rich diversity of opinions and thoughts and ways of life. So I guess my advice is to be open minded and be like a sponge! Absorb as much as you can while you’re here! Hold onto what’s important to you of course but be open to new ideas!”

2026-2027 Fee Breakdown*

Total Fee (includes Tuition, Program Fee, and Health & Wellness Fee): $44,791

Tuition: $35,329

Program Fee: $9,425

Health & Wellness Fee: $37**

Included in the program fee are room/housing, board/meals, and administrative fees. Not included are airfare, passport and visa expenses, primary insurance coverage, photographs, books, immunizations, and incidentals.

*Fees are updated every February for the following academic year.

**The Health & Wellness Fee supports the operations of Wellness Services staff in delivering pre-program orientation services, as well as in providing health-related consultation regarding participant health needs. All students in the College of Arts and Sciences pay a mandatory fee of $37 per semester.

Stipend: Students will receive a stipend to cover the cost of meals and transportation costs not covered by the program fee.

Estimated Airfare (Round Trip PDX to NSI): $1,500 - $3,000

Estimated Visa Fee: $182

Estimated Health Insurance Fee: $1,906

All students participating in overseas programs are automatically enrolled in iNext, a supplemental travel insurance program. The fee for iNext is covered in the program cost. However, students are also required to have comprehensive health insurance during their time abroad. All students participating in overseas programs, both abroad and domestic, are automatically enrolled in the College’s student health insurance program. Similar to a regular semester on-campus, students participating in overseas programs may waive enrollment in the student health insurance program if they have other comprehensive health insurance (e.g., through a parent, guardian or employer) that 1) provides coverage for them in the geographic region in which they will be studying and 2) includes mental health benefits. Find more information regarding health insurance & overseas programs.

Physical Requirements:

Before applying to this program, you should assess and determine if you are physically and/or emotionally able to participate in the following physical demands required by some of this program’s activities:

• Walking or hiking up to 5 miles in a day, sometimes for two or more days in a row, sometimes on hilly, uneven, or unpaved terrain
• Climbing and descending stairs
• Using public transportation - group taxis shared with locals
• Standing for long periods during tours and site visits
• Exposure to mosquitoes and other biting insects
• Entering into older buildings with narrow and sometimes steep staircases, at times with limited or no access to elevators
• The possibility of warm/hot temperatures while residing in locations without air conditioning, and/or cold temperatures while residing in locations with a comfort for lower indoor temperatures
• The possibility of long, busy days with little downtime and infrequent days off from program activities
• Heightened consideration for food and water safety
• Certain vaccinations are required or highly recommended. Please consult with a travel health clinic

If you have questions or are concerned about these or any other program activities, please contact the Lewis & Clark College Overseas & Off-Campus Programs office (overseas@lclark.edu).

Application Process: This program has a dual application process. Student must first submit a Lewis & Clark application. Once admitted by Lewis & Clark, the students will receive instructions for submitting their secondary application to Middlebury and will receive a separate notification letter of admittance. Please keep a digital copy of your essays and other application materials as you will need to submit these similar materials to Middlebury. Please note that this secondary application process may begin as late as the semester preceding your scheduled participation.

Applications are due one year before the start of the program. Learn more about our application process.

Travel: Students usually fly into the Yaounde airport (NSI), where they are met by Middlebury staff and transported to their homestays.

Visa: Students will be required to apply for a visa in order to participate in this program. More information will be provided upon admission to the program.

Country-Specific Health Information: View specific health information for people traveling to Cameroon.

State Department Country Information: Visit the State Department’s Cameroon page.