UK Ambassador to The Gambia, Colin Crorkin, held a cocktail reception at the Ambassador’s Residence to congratulate and bid 
farewell to nine Chevening Scholars selected from The Gambia. These scholars will follow a one year Masters programme, all expenses paid, at UK Universities for the academic year 2016/2017. The event was graced by the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Mr Omar Sey, the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr Amadou Colley, members of the Chevening Alumni, British Embassy Banjul staff and invited guests.
Ambassador Crorkin took this opportunity to wish the scholars a successful programme by saying “this is a unique opportunity to develop networks that will benefit the scholars, their ministries and organisations and, of course, The Gambia. The allocation of scholarships to The Gambia has increased significantly over the past two years to the point where we will now have 20 scholars returning to The Gambia within two years which would previously have taken 10 years to achieve”.
Isatou Jagne who will be studying Epidemiology said “The Chevening award is phenomenal mainly because of the networking opportunities and its highly regarded Alumni. Chevening is my window of opportunity. The experience so far has been surreal. I cannot wait to engage, explore and enjoy my Chevening journey”.
Momodou Cox said that he is honoured to be among the first MRC Unit staff to be awarded such a prestigious scholarship. “This will give me the unique opportunity to pursue a one year MSc in Immunology at a world-leading centre for research and postgraduate education in public and global health”.
Kumbale Goode, who will be undertaking a Masters in International Technology Management, said when asked what a Chevening scholarship meant to her, “getting an opportunity to pursue your dream is the best thing that could happen – especially when I thought it might be unrealistic. The opportunity that the award presents scholars is far more than financing – it’s an opportunity to build a nation, one person at a time”.
Kaddijatou Manneh will be studying Global Entrepreneurship and according to her it “felt surreal until last evening when my colleague scholars and I met with renowned people in The Gambia at the reception. The Chevening journey is an opportunity to develop ourselves but more so to come back and develop our motherland. I could see in the eyes of all scholars the desire to go out and put this opportunity to maximum use. Pursuing Maters degree was a dream for me, now it is a reality”.
Abdulrahman Bah who will be studying International Commercial Law said that “receiving the prestigious Chevening award to me is a life changer. This award will build my capacity in my area of specialty and afford me the opportunity to network with the thousands of distinguished Chevening Scholars all around the world. It goes without saying that the ultimate beneficiaries of this award will be the Gambian people as we all look forward to coming back home and contribute our knowledge to nation building”.
Applications for Chevening Scholarships for the 2017/2018 academic year are now open to Gambian students and will remain open until 8 November. All eligible persons are encouraged to apply via – www.chevening.org/apply
