Dr Patrick Chang; Taiwainese Ambassador to The Gambia has said that Taiwan’s Scholarships to Gambian students is to complement The Gambia Government’s efforts in national development.

Addressing UTG students and some staff during an Information Session on 2007 Taiwan International Cooperation, and Development and Scholarship Programmes for Gambian students, at GTMI in Kanifing yesterday, Ambassador Chang said, The Gambia now needs brains to meet the country’s ambition for the attainment of the Silicon Valley objectives.

According to him, some sixty years ago, Taiwan was with a territorial of three times The Gambia, with few universities. “But today Taiwan has over 162 Universities and Colleges with a student-population of over of over one millions”, he said.

Ambassador Chang added that there are over 177 thousands postgraduate students in Taiwan and 135 thousands have already earned their doctorates degrees. He said there are over 32524 Taiwanese students currently studying overseas.

Ambassador Chang recalled that about 25 Gambians are currently studying Petroleum at Taipei National Universities and another 15 students are on different scholarships programmes, including the Diplomatic Scholarship and other undergraduate degrees. “We do hope that many Gambian students in the near future will go and study in Taiwan. “Over 150 students attend seminars, Mass Media, Food-processing, Agricultural policies courses in Taiwan,” he said.

“I am pleased to donate you 10 bags of rice produced at Sapu on the occasion of your convocation programmes in the offing,” he said For his part, Professor Andreas Steigen, Vice- Chancellor of the UTG commended the Taiwan people for their support to the UTG in the recent years:

He added that cultural exchange in students life is important, and therefore urged the UTG students to make the best use of the information session to gain something useful.

Musa Sowe, Director of Highier Edication, Science and Technology commended the people of Taiwan for their support to The Gambia government.

According to him, the recipients of Taiwan scholarship should make the best use of it as it will contribute to the socio-economic development of the country.