Members of the Alumni of Saint Mary’s University, fondly called Santamarians, are gearing up for a ‘reunion,’ later in May this year.

A preparatory meeting for this very important event was held at the Gambia College, Brikama Campus, last Monday, March 16, succeeding an earlier one at the Buffer Zone, Tallinding, on April 12. It was at the last meeting that it was agreed that the event be held at the Paradise Suites Hotel, and according to organisers, Dr Buba Misawa, former lecturer at the UEP, is expected to grace the occasion.

It is believed that there are about 300 graduates of the programme in The Gambia, including the President of the Republic, His Excellency, Prof. Alh. Dr Yahya AJJ Jammeh, who received his first Honorary Doctorate degree in Civil Laws during the first convocation ceremony in February 1999.

It is ten years since the Saint Mary’s University Extension Programme turned out its first graduates who were also the first home made graduates. Ten years on, it is time enough to take stock of the contribution of these people to The Gambia as a nation. The University Extension Program (UEP) was the brainchild of President Jammeh and it served as a precursor for to creation of the University of The Gambia (UTG). It was a collaborative effort between the Canadian Saint Mary’s University (SMU), Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the Gambia Government. The program started in 1995, phasing into the University of The Gambia in 2001, as had been intended.

Besides providing occasion for meeting long missed colleagues and sharing fond memories of their student days, it is hoped that this reunion will create the opportunity of reviving the alumni association which is necessary to give a face to the great contribution these elites are making to the national development effort of The Gambia. It is said of them to have received ‘a first world education in a third world setting’.

It was a unique experience for the students who went through the programme, the Gambian nation and the Canadian university (SMU) which was established more than 200 years ago (1802).