The university will operate in cordial relationship with the University of The Gambia (UTG) in which both sides will be benefiting from each other's resources and facilities, with AIU's visiting professors rendering lectures to UTG students. Lansana Conteh, Late president of Guinea formally laid the foundation stone of the AIU in 1998 in Conakry, which started as a hospital with the name ‘International Medical Centre'. However, due to the political instability that rocked Guinea last year, the management of the university decided to establish a new unit in a stable country.

The AIU will be operating in two major phases in The Gambia. It has already secured a building next to the United States Embassy along Kairaba Avenue as part of phase one.  This building will be used as the temporal central campus so that recruitment of faculty staff, installation and furnishing of auxiliary facilities, and enrollment of the first batch of students can start by January next year.

Phase two involves the establishment of a permanent campus on land to be provided by the government, and includes the building of professional schools as well as a hospital and research centre, student and faculty housing and auxiliary facilities. During an interview with the Daily Observer Tuesday, Dinesh Shukla, president of the AIU said they decided to establish in The Gambia after the university’s Research Department came up with the conclusion that the country is viable and stable for them to operate in.

He said that shortly after they concluded the research, they wrote to the president of the Republic, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh in October 2009 expressing their intention to evaluate the country's environment, a move he said was enthusiastically welcomed by the Gambian leader.

Shukla further stated that he later held meetings with relevant authorities such as the UTG vice chancellor who all welcomed the initiative and promised to work with him. "We hope to synergize resources so that we can make local institutions more strong in terms of methodology, equipment and faculty," he remarked, adding that the university would also attract visiting renowned professors in which UTG students will immensely benefit.

He revealed that when the university starts operations, it will enroll students from all over Africa and Europe. He also revealed that the programme tuition fee of the university is about 75% cheaper than that of the United States. Shukla further disclosed that the AIU focuses on three main areas. These, according to him, are School of Medicine (five-year programme), School of Dentistry (five years) and School of Pharmacy (four years). He further pointed out that the uniqueness about AIU programmes is that students are enrolled immediately they complete their senior secondary school. He added that the university also offers comprehensive and intensive education programmes based on the American curriculum.

Major benefits

The AIU president said the university in agreement with the Gambia government will offer special benefits to local students, which he referred to as "major benefits". He revealed that once they start operations, 10 per cent of the enrollment seats would be given to Gambian students with 100% free tuition fee awards for the duration of their studies. The advantage of the coming of AIU to the UTG, he pointed out, is that AIU’s faculty staff will provide voluntary education to students at no cost.

Shukla thanked the government of The Gambia for providing him the enabling environment since he expressed his interest to operate in the country. He described President Jammeh as a pragmatic leader whose vision for education is a thing that is worth embracing. He also lauded the president's Vision 2020 initiative, promising that the coming of AIU will be a boost to the attainment of that vision.

Present at the signing of the MOU on Tuesday were Fatou Lamin Faye, minister of Basic and Secondary Education; Dr Pap Sey, permanent secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology; Baboucarr Bouye, permanent secretary,Ministry of Basic&Secondary Education Dinesh Shukla himself; and Amie ND Bensouda, a legal practitioner.