The International Open University (IOU) Deputy Vice-Chancellor DVC (Academics) Prof. Dr. Aliyu Dahiru Muhammad and Mr. Dawda Cessay of IOU Quality Assurance attended a workshop on Monitoring of Research, Innovation, and Community-engagement activities within institutions of higher learning in The Gambia on 25 February, 2026.

The workshop forms part of the National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority (NAQAA)'s ongoing efforts to strengthen accreditation and quality academic programs in higher education institutions and took place at the NAQAA Headquarters, The Gambia. The participants came from various universities in the country.

The Chief Executive Officer Dr. Momodou Lamin Tarro stressed that universities should pay attention not only to teaching but also to research, innovations and community engagements. He added that NAQAA is committed to institutionalizing research culture across universities in The Gambia. While delivering his presentation, the Technical Assistant to the CEO Prof. Abubakar Kundiri added that research infrastructure now constitutes part of the accreditation requirements.

The workshop was also attended by the CEO of the National Research Fund Emeritus Prof. Dr. Momodou Sallah. In his remarks, Dr. Sallah stated that the Government of The Gambia has allotted the sum of half a million dollars to support innovative research and soon they would call for applications. Thus, institutions should be ready to utilize the opportunity. The target, according to him is to get universities in the country ranked and increase their visibility. This is possible through quality publications that are aligned with national goals and Sustainable Development Goals.

Other key recommendations include the establishment of institutional research policy; functional research and innovation office; ethics review committee; percentage of academic staff with postgraduate research degrees (master’s and PhD); availability of basic research infrastructure (libraries, ICT tools and equipment; annual institutional research budget allocations; number of staff trained on research methods and grant writing as well as incentives for research undertaking and productivity.