Introduction
Gambia is located on the west coast of Africa with a population of 1.2 million. Gambia’s estimated per capita income is US$800 and a gross domestic product (GDP) is US$ 400 million with agriculture accounting for 30 percent, industry for 15 percent, and tourism and other service sectors for 55 percent.

History of Higher Education
Prior to colonial rule, the Senegambia sub-region, enjoyed a rich system of indigenous education. Other than basic education and skills training, indigenous education also included various forms of higher education. Higher education was reserved mainly for rulers and priests, and the selection process was elaborate.

The provision of higher education from a Western perspective was never the intention of the British colonial government and it is clear that higher education was never a priority of the British colonial government. As a result, when independence came, newly independent countries such as Gambia did not have any higher education policy or infrastructure upon which to build.

Higher education in Gambia is very different from higher education in most African countries because no system of higher education existed in Gambia until 1995. The main post-secondary institutions of learning in Gambia are the Gambia College and the Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI).

Student Enrollment
Gambia College and the GTTI have enjoyed increased enrollment in the past decade and should continue to do so, mainly because there is a huge demand for the programs offered at these institutions. In 1990, the total student enrollment at Gambia College was 350, the majority of whom were enrolled in the School of Education. Many students travel for overseas study.

Faculty
The total number of faculty members at the Gambia college was 43 in 1993. Of these, 7 were principal lecturers, 12 were senior lecturers, 22 were lecturers, and 2 were assistant lecturers.

Funding and Resources
Most of the post-secondary institutions receive some form of assistance from outside sources (e.g., UNESCO, World Bank, EU, and overseas universities) in the form of technical assistance. The MDI is funded by the World Bank/International Development Association and the government of Gambia.

Every year Gambia sends students abroad for training. Data on the amount of money Gambia spends on higher education is very sketchy, however, between 1981 and 1985 approximately US$3,000,000 was spent to train 40 Gambians to the Bachelors level in the United States.

Governance and Administration
Because all the post-secondary institutions in Gambia are government funded and run, all the administrators, faculty, and support staff are government-employees. Except for Gambia College, which is headed by a principal, all the other post-secondary institutions are headed by directors. Gambia College and the GTTI both have appointed board of governors.

The University Extension Program (UEP)
The UEP was started in November 1995. It is a collaborative effort between the Gambian government, the Nova Scotia Gambia Association (NSGA), a non-governmental Canadian organization, and St. Mary’s University located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is an arrangement in which St. Mary’s University will provide undergraduate training to qualified Gambian students in Gambia at a cost affordable to the government. Funding is mainly provided by the Gambia government.

Note: For detailed account on the state of higher education in Gambia, please consult: Kabba E. Colley, African Higher Education: An International Reference Handbook (Damtew Teferra and Philip. G. Altbach, eds., Indiana University Press, 2003), pp. 330-337.