#Headlines

IOU accredited with 3 new academic programmes

Jan 5, 2022, 1:36 PM

Press release :The International Open University (IOU) has received a letter dated December 30, 2021 and signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority, Dr Gibril Jaw, informing the IOU of the accreditation of three of the six programmes for a period of four years.

 

The accredited programmes are Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Science in Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance, and Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

The IOU received its first letter in March 2021, granting provisional accreditation for one year for its Bachelor of Arabic Language Studies programme, making it the first tertiary institution to ever be granted programme accreditation in The Gambia. The IOU deposited its six other programmes for accreditation soon after. 

Dr Cherno Omar Barry, the President of the International Open University, was visibly elated by this breakthrough, and he commended the CEO and his team for their steadfastness in ensuring a conducive environment for the development of tertiary and higher education. The CEO’s relentless efforts are paying off as many institutions are now responding positively to the required standards set by NAQAA for harmonised and quality post-secondary education.

Dr Barry was once the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, under whose purview the NAQAA was established. He feels that opportunities are now available to provide the best university education to needy students in The Gambia. He says that the International Open University is the brainchild of Dr Bilal Philips and it is a tuition-free institution that is set to support the government in achieving higher education for all in the critical areas of national development. The IOU was first given a provisional license to operate in 2014 and granted a three-year provisional institutional accreditation in 2019. The institute operates in over 229 countries with over 600,000 students worldwide, and it has its headquarters in The Gambia.

The IOU presently provides undergraduate training to teachers across the country to meet the policy needs of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in strengthening the quality of education at the secondary level and increasing the pass rate at the WASSCE. It also provides scholarships to needy students through its One Million Africa Scholarship project, called 1MAS.

Dr Gibril Jaw, the CEO of NAQAA, has confirmed that all the other remaining IOU programmes will be given due consideration for accreditation soon.

Read Other Articles In Headlines
African Members
African countries meet to facilitate free movement of women in cross border
Aug 26, 2021, 12:31 PM

A total of 13 West African countries including The Gambia are currently meeting in Burkina Faso with a view to validating the Diagnostic Study on the Movement of Small-scale Cross-border Women Traders in ECOWAS

Ousman Sonko v3
Sonko ineligible to vie for presidency
Aug 11, 2023, 12:04 PM

One of the Senegalese dailies, Obs, yesterday reported that Senegal’s main opposition leader Ousman Sonko, 49, “is ineligible” to run as presidential candidate for the February 25, 2024 elections because his name had been written off from the electoral list.

alhaji batora ceesay
Member of slave class in Garawol sues Governor, 2 others
Jun 1, 2021, 11:00 AM

Alagie Modi Trawally for the slave class of Garawol has sued the Governor of the Upper River Region, Chief Bacho Ceesay of Kantora and Alkalo Tachine Ceesay seeking several declarations from the High Court concerning their alleged human rights violations.

Sall and Barrow v2
‘Gambia, Senegal offer shining example for Africa’s transformation’
Aug 2, 2023, 11:25 AM

President Adama Barrow has stated that the Senegalo-Gambia relations offer a “springboard and a shining example for Africa’s transformation."
“We have to dream bigger and explore viable options for a more formidable river transport system and a common rail service as flagship projects,” he added while speaking at the 3rd Senegalo-Gambia Presidential Council Meeting yesterday.