The event also includes team-building exercises for graduates.
Nfamara Camara - President, Alumni of Universities in Turkey -The Gambia (ALUT), thanked the Turkish Government Scholarship Team for the tremendous support accorded to Gambian students and graduates.
Since its inception in 2017, he disclosed that the association serves as an information hub and helps promote networking, unity, and brotherhood among graduates from Turkey.
Camara noted that it also aims to foster cooperation between The Gambia and Turkey through cultural exchange and knowledge sharing.
“Currently, the association has 65 registered members who excelled in various fields including economics, engineering, agriculture, medicine, nursing, management etc. Our graduates are working in various areas of the economy and are contributing their quota to national development.’
He revealed that members of their association also serve as interpreters to many visiting Turkish investors, who cannot speak and understand English or Gambian languages.
Papa Sanneh, principal assistant secretary at the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology said with University education comes an opportunity for good employment prospects and healthy living.
“It is a fact that a nation with a well-developed and strong education system and more so higher education system is a nation with a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce.” Mr. Sanneh said.
He therefore advised the student awardees to take their studies seriously to complete successfully and return home and serve their people and nation.
Present at the event was the resident coordinator of TIKA, Mehmet Akif Eyigun and the ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to The Gambia, Tolga Bermek, who expressed about the cooperation with The Gambia in the education field as it is developing day-by-day.
Turkey, he added, is one of the leading countries in attracting international students from brotherly countries in the world.