By Abass Jalloh
The newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Canadian University of Modern Technology (CUMT) in Mile 91, Professor Allyson Sesay has vowed to improve on the general standards and performance of the university and its students.
He says he is aware of the role he has taken and the challenges of the university, noting that he does not condone examination malpractice. He said he has already spotted many motivated students who were unable to graduate because they were financially challenged and needed to be encouraged.
To support those students, he said he intends to set up a system whereby the college can provide some work for them with the hope that “maybe they could work like for 20 hours on campus, assisting with the work of the departments and giving them some stipends.”
He assured that they will help those students complete their courses despite their current financial status.
Speaking on the challenges that may affect his plans, he said they are revising some policies, such as the grading system from 5 points to 4 which is more of international standards.
He also added that students and lecturers lack the foundation of scholarly activities and faculties on scholarships and wanted to improve on that by organizing seminars with encouragement of writing, researching, and publishing.
“We have lecturers who are highly skilled in their content areas, but the art of teaching [pedagogy] is not so strong, and that can affect student performance, especially in the area of assessment,” he said, adding that organizing workshops would be necessary for them to be better teachers.
He said he would like to see his students; participating in seminars and conferences. He also spoke about their present focus to organize undergraduate seminars so that students from other universities in the country will take part.
He said in as much as they focus on technology and digital learning, he also wants to ensure that the students acquire teaching skills that can be an added value for them when they graduate from the university. “Even though we are training them for the industries, we think they should also have some teaching skills just in case when they leave college they do not find a job, with some background of pedagogy, they will be temporarily teachers,” he said.
He added: “Maybe in the final year, I will introduce teaching courses and how to set exams, so when they leave here, in addition to their qualifications in business and IT, when they go to schools they have a footing in better teaching.”
The Vice-Chancellor said he was moved by the appointment when he heard about Muckson’s challenging story of developing the college to the status of university. “I never thought of coming here, but I was moved,” he said. “I thought a young man of this age should be helped.”
The Vice-Chancellor said he is excited about the appointment and was looking forward to students and staff who are highly motivated and willing to take some new ideas.
Professor Allyson Sesay became the first Vice-Chancellor of the university on the 2nd February, 2022.
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