Four students from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB),a partner university, are currently on a three-week internship at the University of The Gambia (UTG).The interns are currently pursuing their Master’s programmes in the Computer Science field.
The delegation is accompanied by Mr Jimmy Hendry Nzally, a PhD Candidate at the VUB and also a UTG staff .The main purpose of their internship is to work with the Information and Technology (I.T) Department of UTG in installing new computer labs in the School of Information, Communication and Technology and library (VUB -UTG HUB; e-library/research center). They will work on setting up systems and software installations.
This project is made possible after the UTG Management secured 250 computers and 150 laptops from VUB. This exchange visit is one of the many ongoing projects between the two institutions. In May last year, the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
UTG administration made visits to the VUB including with the Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology as well the UTG Students’ Union (UTG-SU) President. While the VUB officials also made similar visits to the UTG,including the Director of the Multilingual Master’s Program of the VUB and a Senior Lecturer of British and Postcolonial Literature from the same faculty and not least the VUB Student Council and the International Student Platform.
There is also an ongoing project on higher education student and staff mobility between the two universities. March this year, a staff of the UTG Relations Office visited VUB as part of a capacity building project. In the September 2019 academic year, six (6) students from the UTG are going to the VUB for a semester long exchange to be followed by another batch .UTG lecturers are expected to visit VUB for teaching and the UTG-SU is expected to visit VUB in October this year. In February 2020 the two universities will start a winter school in The Gambia.
