Deputy Vice-Chancellor's Message

As we plan various activities leading to our 180th Anniversary celebrations, the publication of this brochure is very timely. It may also be timely to reflect briefly on the rich tradition and heritage of our Alma Mater spanning over 1% of a century and the vision and resilience of the pioneering founders of this institution, who now observe our progress from the great beyond.

On the eve of our 180th celebrations we are retrospective of the history of the College and introspec-tive of the expectations of our community and those we serve as we strive to fulfill our mission of providing quality and relevant education to the future academics, administrators, scientists, engineers, teachers, language specialists, historians, philosophers, accountants, demographers and statis¬ticians, geographers, artists, and many other professionals that will succeed us in mapping out the destiny of our nation and indeed many other nations whose students we train.

It is of interest to mention that this institution was indeed a University College by a Royal Charter of 1960 until it was made a constituent college of the University of Sierra Leone under the 1972 Act. Our affiliation to the University of Durham, in the United Kingdom in 1876 by a resolution of the Senate of that University is significant and as indicated in the charter.

By that act it became possible for the first time for an African to train and qualify in his own native Land for the degree of a British University.

The Charter which was granted during the tenure of a Scotsman, Mr. John James Grant who served the College from 1955 to 1960 as principal, further reminds us that `the lives of institutions are important because of the power they have to direct the efforts and improve the minds of those who comprise them'. Personally I consider this a sacred responsibility that should guide our actions and vision for the College.

Interestingly this Scotsman was the last in the line of non-Sierra Leoneans to head this institution. In 1961 the College had its first Sierra Leonean Principal, Dr. Davidson S. H. Nicol who was succeeded by Prof. The Rev. Harry Sawyerr (1968-1974), Prof. Eldred Durosimi Jones (1974-1985), Prof Cyril Patrick Foray (1985-1993) and my immediate predecessor Prof Victor Strasser-King (1993-2003), an impressive line of distinguished and eminent academics and administrators by any standard. The records also provide a sobering insight of the formative influence of religion in the history of our College which was indeed originally established to train the clergy. From 1827 to 1946 all of the 12 principals were reverend gentlemen, two of whom were Bishops of Sierra Leone (The Right Rev. Edmund I lenry Elwin and the Most Rev. James Lawrence Cecil Horstead who was also the Archbishop of West Africa and served as Principal from 1926-1936).

Of course many restructuring have occurred in our history and most recently the reconstitution of the University of Sierra Leone to include the School of Nursing and the Pharmacy Technician School and the introduction of new nomenclatures for the officers of the institutions which are still a source of confusion and intrigue for many Sierra Leoneans, especially those not very closely con¬nected with the day to day activities of the two Universities. The modular system has also been an addition to the restructuring of our academic programmes and we are still grappling with its ramifi¬cations, opportunities and challenges.

We share a proud heritage. This of course implies an awesome responsibility in maintaining the rich tradition of excellence and quality education and indeed advancing the frontiers of knowledge especially in this knowledge driven age of technology. It is hoped that this brochure will provide an insight and indeed a road map of the modular structure of our programmes with a view to empower-ing both students and staff of its operations.