By Hassan Y. Koroma
The Chinese Ambassador in Sierra Leone, Wang Qing, on Wednesday (6 September) visited the University of Management and Technology (UNIMTEC) main campus in Freetown in order to promote mutual understanding.
In his welcome address and presentation of the university’s operations the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Prof. Osman Sankoh, appreciated the ambassador and delegation for the visit.
He gave a brief background of the university that was started as a small computer training centre but graduated to a university. He said this giant achievement did not come easily as the owners put a lot of efforts and energy through the supports of others.
Prof. Sankoh explained that the aim was not to make money but to be an excellent corporate entity “which enhances the quality of university’s teaching, research and social responsibilities by creating strategic and relationship alliances in and outside the country”.
The DVC stated that the mission was to provide appropriate teaching, research, social responsibilities and the maximizing of returns to shareholders, while having a contented workforce and help to promote sustainable development.
According to him, the main goal was to be able to absorb more students with more appropriate courses for national development that were not offered by these five universities.
He also dilated on the limited carrying capacities; noting that the five public universities could not absorb all the demands placed upon them in terms of admissions to study for degrees and diplomas.
Prof. Osman Sankoh added that they wanted to fill the gap in a bid to supplement the efforts of existing universities, expanding existing courses and also introduce new ones. He noted furthered that the university now had 7,176 students with satellite campuses nationwide.
He underscored that they were not asking the Chinese Embassy to build them structures but to promote a sustained cooperate and mutual understanding for exchange visitations to widen the horizon of lecturers and build a strong tie with them.
Prof. Sankoh continued that they were also yearning for a formidable and motivated administration, while commending the commitment of his staff and the excellent performance of the administration which had been pushing for more structures and the encouragement of Student Unions and the promotion of Alumni to give back to the college.
On his part the Chinese Ambassador, Wang Qing, expressed high sense of connection and sentiment for the tremendous efforts made by the administration and for the invitation. He also highlighted the importance of education in the minds of young people in any society.
He said since his arrival in January, he had already visited a number of communities and recently hosted students who benefited from the Chinese scholarships to study in China, saying that it had been going on for several years.
Ambassador Wang Qing disclosed that the relationship between Sierra Leone and the People’s Republic of China was based on mutual understanding and trust, supporting each other and that Sierra Leone had already benefited a lot from the Chinese development programmes. These, he noted, included medical team and equipment to fight epidemic, pandemic and national disasters, the rehabilitation of the Siaka Stevens Stadium, agricultural equipment among other things.
According to the Chinese Ambassador, he was happy that certain students and lecturers of the university had also benefited from their scholarship scheme. He encouraged the administration to continue the engagements which were very important.
To climax the visit, Ambassador Wang Qing made a conducted tour of some of the college’s facilities and exchanged gifts as a sign of commitment.