By Olimatou Coker
The University of The Gambia at its 15th convocation ceremony on Saturday graduated over 1,300 students from various schools at a ceremony held at Bijilo.
Presiding over the ceremony, the university’s chancellor President Adam Barrow, congratulated the graduates for the milestone achievements of their educational pursuit adding that the graduation serves as a point of reference in the lives of the graduates and their families, as well as the university and the nation.
“The convocation signifies progress and underscores our collective commitment to educating our youth whose skills and training we need for the socio-economic transformation of our country,” he commented while exhorting the graduating students to utilise their knowledge for national development.
He said pragmatism is the basis for sustainable development and that for a country like The Gambia, skills and entrepreneurship are critical enablers of speeding up socio-economic transformation.
UTG vice chancellor Professor Herbert Robinson, highlighted some of the achievements the university made over the past year.
He stated: “In terms of teaching and learning activities, with a total staff complement of over 580 – 310 academic staff and 272 administrators – and a student population of about 7,000, the university successfully delivered above 50 undergraduate programmes, 29 master’s programmes and 4 Ph D programmes.”
He said the university is aware of the need for knowledge and experience-based education and is rolling out projects in this regard to produce quality and competitive minds for meaningful development.
He called on all stakeholders to help address the perennial issues of resource and space constraints.
Ya Adam Nije, the overall best graduating student, recounted her time at the university where she studied computer science. Miss Nije said passion and hard work were the prime movers of her dreams which have now become a reality.
