The Chancellor of University of Sierra Leone (USL), Dr. James Sanpha Koroma, has captioned in his address to the house of congregation the immediate concerns affecting their operations as a University.
According to Dr. James Sanpha Koroma, USL being a public university is primarily funded by the Government, and the Universities Act 2021 creates provision regarding the sources of funding for all public universities. However, he noted that such does not preclude universities from sourcing funding in other organizations or developing other funding models that could assist the universities in their operations.
Dr. Koroma mentioned that one such sustainable funding is through the establishment of an “endowment fund,” which is a vehicle used by most universities in the developed world to fund universities. He implored the alumni members to put forth the idea of a USL endowment fund whereby all graduands of the constituent colleges of USL can contribute a certain amount, which will allow the university to become financially buoyant to effectively fund its programmes and activities.
With regards academic integrity, he noted that robust methods must be maintained for lecturers to fulfill their teaching appointments, adding that the University must augment a system in place to upgrade its courses to reach global trends in university education. He also admonished that University Administration to make efforts in ensuring that the number of students admitted is proportionate to the available resources of the institution.
USL’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Foday Sahr, said that his administration has embarked on a plethora transformational interventions and operational innovations geared towards addressing the university’s needs and responding to it challenges. With regards quality management and strategic planning, he disclosed that his administration in 2019 decided to transform the University Recycle and Development Center to a Quality Assurance and Strategic Planning Directorate, which ensures that quality assurance is embedded in all of the universities’ practices and processes through its learning framework.
He also mentioned that USL is in partnership with several institutions for its staff to pursue PhD programmes, and positive responses have been received from a number of them in the sub region and beyond, adding that the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education in addition is regularly providing the University with available resources for postgraduate training to complement the University’s efforts in building the capacity of its staff.
The Vice Chancellor also intimated the congregation that the University has embarked on a number of infrastructural developments with internally generated funds and some through the goodwill of well-meaning Sierra Leoneans, ranging from the renovation of the Adult Education Building, the extension of the existing College Hospital, the construction of the Disability Friendly Centre, to the rehabilitation of the FBC Rehabilitation Center. Prof. Foday Sahr noted that the USL ICT portal has also been launched to handle students’ information and activities from application to graduation.
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