By Mustapha Sesay
The Chinese-run Confucius Institute at Fourah Bay College has donated two sets of multimedia equipment to ease the University’s communication problem.
Giving a background to the institute during a ceremony held at the Strasser King Building on campus, the institute's Local Director and university lecturer, Kenneth Osho, said it was launched mainly at the University of Sierra Leone to train students in basic Chinese Mandarin language starting with five teachers and one volunteer to complement their overall efforts.
He said the consignment included Espon projectors, automatic screens, voltage stabilisers, Lenovo computers, stereo amplifiers, loud speakers, wireless microphones, control desk and all other accessories worth over US$20,000. Osho said the Chinese had already renovated a classroom space that would house the equipment.
“Students of Fourah Bay College and IPAM have shown overwhelming interests in acquiring Chinese language. In order not to allow this interest to wane while we work on integrating the language course into the curriculum of the university, we are able to acquire a six-month long scholarship for attachment to Gannan Normal University, our partner institution in China for ten students" he said, adding that one of the students had just completed his attachment and would return to Sierra Leone very soon.
Receiving the items, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor of FBC, Professor Sahr Gbamanja, said “the equipment was first of its kind in any tertiary institution in the country”, and promised that they would be would utilised well.
(C) Politico 30/01/14
