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.
