By Adama K Jallow
The Chinese Embassy in The Gambia has presented fully funded government scholarships to forty-six Gambian students to pursue their studies in various areas in China. This was revealed on Friday at a reception for the 2018 Chinese Government Scholarship Awardees held at the Chinese Embassy in Bijilo.
Speaking to awardees, the Chinese Ambassador to The Gambia, His Excellency Zhang Jiming revealed that 17 out of the 46 Gambian students succeeded in bagging scholarships for bachelor degree programs, 22 students for master’s degree programs and 2 for doctorate degree programs in China this year.
Two scholars from the University ofThe Gambia were also offered government scholarship package through Guizhou University, a top-tier Chinese University which has partnered with the University of The Gambia.
H.E Zhang Jiming said the major areas chosen by the awardees included clinical medicine, electrical engineering, management science, agriculture, finance, meteorology, transportation, architecture, biological science and information among others.
Ambassador Jiming mentioned that this package was part of the rich outcomes of President Adama Barrow’s successful state visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President, Xi Jinping last December.
He also described the scholarship package as a significant part and parcel of the fruitful cooperation featuring the strong and sound bilateral ties between China and The Gambia.
He said apart from the significant increase of scholarships this year, what is equally notable is the short-term training programs, adding that the total number of Gambian professionals, technicians and officials who benefit from the short-term training programs in China has tripled.
He applauded his team at the Embassy for their hard work in the process.
Ambassador Jiming revealed that the UTG has paired up with China’s Guizhou University to carry out cooperation in various forms, and the highly-expected Confucius Institute will soon be established at the UTG.
He noted that all these demonstrate their cooperation across the board including education and human resources development, that China is combining its own development with the self-sustainable development of the Gambia and Africa for win-win cooperation and common development.
On behalf of the Gambia government, the Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Badara A. Joof thanked the Chinese government and its Embassy in The Gambia for the continuous support to the capacity building of the Gambia as well as the structural, health and agricultural development among others.
He advised the awardees to be good ambassadors of The Gambia as they leave for China.
