The newly-appointed chief executive officer of the Institute of Commercial Management (ICM), England, yesterday ended a fact-finding visit to The Gambia, extolling the country for its impressive scores in the ICM-conducted advanced professional programmes.

Professor Tom Thomas, a former lecturer at the Southampton University in the UK, told the Daily Observer that the performance of Gambian students in ICM examinations can be compared with the global pass rates.

The visiting professor had already met leading institutions in the country's academic arena, including the Management Development Institute (MDI), the director general of the National Training Authority (NTA), the head of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), and heads other professional institutes offering ICM programmes.

Prof Thomas said the visit was intended to get firsthand information on the problems confronting ICM centres and discuss ways and means of overcoming them.

"We want to provide more learning materials through the ICM website to help tutors and students because some of the textbooks are very expensive," he noted.

At the end of the meeting with the institutes heads, an Association of ICM Centres in The Gambia was formed. The association is expected to meet regularly to help students attain highest standards in their professional pursuit and ensure smooth conduct of the programmes.

Stressing the importance of standards, Prof Thomas said the other side of the visit seeks to explore possibilities of introducing new course programmes to ensure access to career fields locally. "There is a room to improve the number and range of programmes.

Potentially, there could be demand for other areas, such as banking and finance, tourism and hospitality, amongst others. We can expand and develop the programme," he added.

He described The Gambia as an important market for ICM, as the country provides 4,500 registered students annually.

"We have some excellent centres here and the MDI is the main one," said the professor, who leave Banjul today.

The ICM CEO Thomas disclosed progress in arrangements to link ICM diploma to final year degree programmes in universities (already about eight universities have been linked in the UK). He expressed hope to establish the same link with the University of The Gambia and then thanked Gambians for the warm reception.

Sillah Camara, senior management trainer and ICM coordinator at MDI, thanked the professor for the visit. Mr Camara, who coordinated the trip, described the fact-finding visit as "very fruitful".