York University partners with UTG

The universities of The Gambia and York in the UK last week entered into an agreement to build partnership between the two higher institutions of learning.

Officials of the two universities discussed the modalities of the agreement at a meeting held at the UTG Chancellery office in Brikama.

Speaking on the occasion, the Vice-chancellor of the UTG, Professor Muhammadou M.O. Kah, said he was delighted to receive Professor Brown on behalf of the UTG authority.

"The UTG is a very important institution for The Gambia," Prof Kah said, adding that the UTG is the institution where the human resource of The Gambia is being developed to take care of all fields of development in the country.

Briefing the visiting professor on the structural establishment of the UTG, Prof Kah said the UTG has several faculties which include agriculture and environmental sciences, education, business and public administration, law, school of information technology and communication, school of arts and sciences, and school of engineering and architecture.

"The University of The Gambia is ten-year-old and has graduated over twelve hundred to fifteen hundred students majority of whom are contributing to the different aspects of our society while some are pursuing their Master's degrees and PhDs in great universities across the world," Prof. Kah explained.

For his part, the visiting Deputy Vice-chancellor of York St. John University in the UK, Professor David Maughan Brown, said he was grateful to professor Kah for the warm welcome accorded him and his friend Mr. Ian Ashton, the Vice-chairman of Yorkshire Moors and Coast Tourist Partnership.

The doors of education in any country should be open, he said, adding that he appreciated UTG for opening their doors to his university in the UK.

York St. John University was established in 1841 but became fully fledge university four years ago, Professor Brown said, adding that his university, founded by the Church of England, is younger than the UTG.

Professor Brown said York St. John University started as a teacher training institution, noting that teacher training was part of their mission.

He added that one of the relationships between the UTG and his university is the similarity of their missions. "It is the responsibility of the University to be responsible for individuals" academic development, especially in terms of accommodating people to different cultures," he noted. "There are promising potential areas of collaboration between the UTG and York St. John University," he said.

UTG's Deputy Vice-chancellor Professor Ousman Nyan, in his brief remarks, said the UTG is the "powerhouse" for the transformation of The Gambia through the creation and transfer of knowledge.