The Gambian Government Praises Saint Mary's University

February 16, 2001

The Gambian Government Praises Saint Mary's University

Today, the Government of The Gambia, West Africa will honour Saint Mary's University at a special ceremony in Banjul, the country's capital city. The event will coincide with the country's National Day celebrations.

Yahya Jammeh, President of The Gambia, will preside over the ceremony where Dr. Colin Dodds, Saint Mary's University President, will be officially thanked by Gambian authorities and officials from the new University of The Gambia for the role that Saint Mary's has played in assisting the Gambia develop its tertiary education system and its new university.

"This role has included over six years of involvement in the delivery of university-level programming in The Gambia through the Saint Mary's University Extension Program where over 250 Gambians have graduated with Saint Mary's degrees in their own country," says Denis Leclaire, Director of the Saint Mary's International Activities Department. "In addition, with support from the Canadian International Development Agency, Saint Mary's continues to work with the new University of The Gambia, assisting it to develop and strengthen governance and administrative systems."

Dr. Dodds will be speaking at the special ceremony where he will also be honouring the more than 100 Gambian students who graduated in absentia over the last year. Also part of the Saint Mary's delegation is Heidi Taylor, Program Director for the Saint Mary's International Activities Department, who has managed the University's involvement in The Gambia for the last six years.

Saint Mary's has one of the most "internationalized" universities in Canada, with hundreds of international students on its campus from almost 100 different countries - the largest number of students from the Caribbean, Japan, China, the United States, Brazil, and Taiwan.

The University is home to one of Canada's leading business schools, has the largest Arts Faculty and a Science Faculty widely known for its cutting-edge research.