In this week's edition of Top class column, we decided to bring you an overview assessment at one of Gambia's longest serving Information Technology (IT) training provider - The Gambia Telecommunications and Multimedia Institute (GTMI).

In a chat with Top Class on Monday, the GTMI head of Academic affairs, Kemo Mbemba, said the institute was formerly known as Gamtel Training Centre (GTC); a subsidiary of Gambia's own telecommunication giant GAMTEL. Strategically located along the NRA highway in Kanifing, Mbemba said GAMTEL was earlier created in the 1960s mainly to provide telecommunication engineering training to the posts and telecom departments and the private sectors. Thousands of Students, he said, have  graduated from the institution in various fields of discipline since its establishment and that some of those graduates are now occupying key position in both government and the private sectors.

According to Mbemba, as the demand for places increased and in a bid to provide the Gambian labour market with relevant and quality training in the area of Information Technology, a novelty at the time, GAMTEL decided to build a fit-for-purpose campus in Kanifing in 1992 with adequate facilities, the new GTMI started providing IT courses in addition to its traditional telecoms engineering programmes.  Since then, he added, the institute runs three full-fledged departments, namely: Business Studies, Engineering and Information Technology.

Mbemba further stated that the institute can now boasts of five fully air-conditioned labs with State-of-the-Art computers and related accessories. In addition to these, he said, are two fully air-conditioned halls, which could be used for both lectures and conferences. While attesting to the qualitative education that GTMI provides, Mbemba revealed that they are currently partnering with reputable overseas examining bodies such as City and Guilds of London and Cambridge International Exams, Microsoft Academy as well as Cisco Academy and ACCA.

He further highlighted that they have qualified, competent, dedicated and patient teaching staff to attend to the learning needs in the various fields of learning such as Information, Communication and Technology. GTMI provides wide ranges of courses ranging from IT to business studies. The following are the areas that they provide:

ICT fundamentals:
a.  City & Guilds Certificate in Software Applications
b.  City & Guilds Diploma in Software Applications
c.  International Computer Driving Licence &ICDL
d.  CISCO Networking Academy courses
i.  IT Essentials
ii.  CCNA
Microsoft Academy:
iii.  Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician & MCDST
iv.  Microsoft Office User Specialist &MOUS
v. Microsoft Certified System Administrator & MCSA
Business Studies:
University of Cambridge International Exams Standard Diploma
e. University of Cambridge International Exams Advanced Diploma
f. Certified Accounting Technician & CAT
Telecommunication Studies:
g. City & Guilds Technician Certificate in Telecommunication Systems
h. City & Guilds Technician Diploma in Telecommunication Systems
i. Bridging course for the Technician Certificate Course.
According to Mbemba, students can however, write to their CCNA, CCNP, A+, ORACLE, MCSA, MCSE, and many other External Industrial Certification exams, saying, "Our prometric and pearson vue examination platforms creates many opportunities for students".    
Beside that, he said students also gain acceptance in many higher learning institutions in the overseas, adding that some have even acquired jobs from GTMI after completion of their courses while some established their own private enterprises in the networking and the multimedia area.

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