As part of the deal, GTUC has certified ICC to serve as the recruitment agency for students wishing to undergo studies in its campuses in Ghana.
Speaking at the ceremony held at the ICC conference hall, Dr Osei Darkwa, president of GTUC said his university has made it a policy to establish recruitment and learning centres in all West African countries. The Gambia will join Togo, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, among other countries, where the centres are already operational.
He revealed that out of the 86 universities in Ghana, their university is ranked eighth and that they are working towards making it the best in the country.
Dr Darkwa said they came to The Gambia because they have been communicating with ICC to explore such a possibility in The Gambia. “ICC has produced a number of students in The Gambia’s tertiary training sector… We would create a progression path for students here who wish to continue their education to higher levels in Ghana. There are undergraduate and post-graduate study programmes ranging from one year to two year degree programmes we offer for such,” he said.
Dr Lamin Sidibeh, board member of the ICC, said he strongly believed that charity begins at home: “At this age and experience, I am of the view that African learning institutions have for too long been collaborating with learning institutions outside this continent. Now, it is time to start collaborating with each other for the benefit of our peoples and the future generations.”
Dr Sidibeh said Ghana is a role model when it comes to higher education in Africa, and a lot of Gambians, including himself, and the Gambia’s first president, went through Ghanaian educational institutions: “We can learn from their experiences… We have more similarities than differences and in terms of cost, it will be cheaper to study in Ghana than UK or India.”
He expressed his hope that The Gambia will soon host a joint GUTC-ICC university campus.
Present at the press conference were Ebou Jobe, the director of ICC, principal Yaya Bah and board chairman Baboucarr Cham.
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