By Ndey Sowe
The Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (MoHERST) has signed Performance Contracts with Tertiary and Higher Education Institutions under its purview.
These institutions are The University of The Gambia, the University of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology USET, the Management Development Institute – The Gambia and The Gambia College.
The signing ceremony was held on Friday, 1st September, 2023 at the Ministry’s Conference hall in Bijilo.
The objective of the Performance Contract is to ensure that institutions deliver their respective programmes effectively and efficiently in a measured manner.
In his opening statement, the Hon Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Professor Pierre Gomez, stated that this initiative is the first of its kind in the history of the tertiary and higher education system in The Gambia.
He stressed the need for the heads of institutions to uphold the respective contracts that are geared towards improving service delivery, performance and output of their respective institutions.
However, he promised the support of the Ministry and entire government in the implementation of the contract.
“The cardinal pillars of this Contract have been tailored around ensuring the quality of teaching and learning, improving research output, improving institutional management systems, the provision of infrastructure and equipment, performance evaluation, and professional conduct and growth,” Minister Gomez added.
Furthermore, he thanked the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Justice of the Gambia for their support in the formulation of the performance contract.
For his part, the CEO of the National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority (NAQAA), Dr Gibril Jaw, highlighted that training programmes need to be designed to respond to the developmental needs of the country and must respond to the needs of the clients.
Thus, he said NAQAA will provide supervisory and technical oversight in the implementation of the Performance Contract in line with the NAQAA Act 2021, as well as the Tertiary and Higher Education Act 2016.
Respective Chairpersons of Councils and Boards of The University of The Gambia, USET, Management Development Institute – The Gambia and The Gambia College have expressed their commitment to deliver and work with MoHERST, its partners and stakeholders in ensuring that the performance contract is successfully implemented. They, however, solicited the Ministry’s support towards this endeavour.
It is important to note that the performance contracts came at a time when the Ministry’s transformation agenda is being implemented, and key to this is the need to put tertiary and higher education institutions at the forefront of that development drive.
