The Vice President Muhammed B.S. Jallow was represented by the Minister for Trade, Mr. Babucarr Joof, and the Minister Basic Secondary Education, Madame Habibatou Drame. Other dignitaries included Professor Muhammad Kah and Professor Mustapha Momodou Fanneh, among a host of other guests.
At the event, Dr. Cherno Omar Barry, Vice Chancellor of the International Open University congratulated the incoming Vice Chancellor of the University Professor Makie Taal, as he bade farewell as VC, following a successful and very fruitful tenure.
Dr. Barry dwelled on the many achievements the University had gone through during his time as Vice Chancellor of the University, among which are his tireless efforts in pushing for the accreditation journey of the University to be recognised for the unique and quality education it offers globally.
“I’m happy to mention that the IOU is not only offering programs in English.”
He added; “Recently, we have the ‘’Bahasa” in Indonesia which is growing very, very fast,” said the outgoing VC.
He also talked about their ongoing expansion journey of the University including other parts of Africa, citing East Africa, where IOU is spreading its unique education of Islamisation of all learning globally.
“Our expansion in East Africa shows significant enrollment increases such as in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. Moreover, we awarded over 1000 scholarships to Gambian students ensuring quality education must be within reach for many. The IOU unique nature makes it possible for every deserving Gambian, irrespective of your financial means to have access to the International Open University. That makes it unique because University education is very expensive, but the IOU is determined to raise funds and give scholarships,” he stated.
Dr. Barry also mentioned the University strength and partnership with global academia such as Association of African Universities, International Association of Universities’ Presidents, and e-learning Africa Conference, among others.
The Founder and Chancellor of the International Open University Prof. Dr. Bilal Phillips described the move as ‘gathering of gratitude’, which he essentially said, is important for Muslims to be thankful when good things happen to them.
Dr. Bilal Phillips spoke on the unique nature of offering Islamised education, which he carefully differentiates from Islamic Education, which comprises Fiqr, Aqeeda, Hadith among others.
He explained that Islamised education is inculcating Islamic thought and modifying what is relevant and morally important to modify in the Western Conventional Knowledge and learning.
To this end, he called this the bringing back of 12th to 14th Centuries learning glory when Muslims’ thoughts and ideas had dominated the world at that time, in the sciences and other disciplines guided by the Qur’an and Sunnah.
Dr. Bilal maintained that the IOU is following that line of thought in Islamisation of all learning in order to build virtues and good moral characters in its students as they graduate to serve their communities.
He said IOU does not have a “student Union” which is political, but a student committee, which is designed to serve the Community, and no students graduate without putting in the required community service hours.
He also spoke on the introduction of the “Bahasa” language of Indonesia recently, where students can learn their lessons in their own languages.
In his goodwill message, Babucarr Ousmaila Joof, minister for Trade, who represented the Chief Guest of Honour the Vice President of the Gambia, thanked the International Open University for the invitation, and its contribution to the deliverance of quality education to Gambians.
Similar messages were echoed and read by Professor Muhammed Kah, former UTG Vice Chancellor, Professor Mustapha Fanneh of EUCLID University, among others.
The event was moderated by the Registrar of the International Open University, Mr. Ebou Ibrahim Gaye, while Mr. Kebba Jaiteh, IOU Director of Operations delivered the vote of thanks.
