President James Michel met with the Minister of Education of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, Honourable Gilbert Licudi, this morning at State House.  Mr. Licudi and his delegation are in the country to seek assistance in the establishment of a University in Gibraltar.

“I am pleased that we can share our experiences of setting up the University of Seychelles with the government of Gibraltar, as we have many common challenges and needs to develop our economies. We can build partnerships and exchanges together which will increase the quality of education and ensure that  our young people have better access to high education,” said President Michel.

Speaking to the press after his meeting with the President, Minister Licudi said that they want to establish Gibraltar as a centre of excellence in education in the Mediterranean.  He said that there is already a School of Health offering undergraduate studies in Gibraltar, and they wish to incorporate that in the University. He added that they intend to partner with many universities as Seychelles has done.

“We are very glad to be have been extended an invitation to come Seychelles to speak to the people to set up the University, to speak to some government officials and the President….It’s a project which is on course by next year, and we want to know how it was done and how it will work in Gibraltar, because of the challenges that are particularly faced in a small place like Seychelles and Gibraltar… What Seychelles offers us is that fact that you’ve been through it, you’ve done it, you already got a fully-fledged established University and we want to know exactly how you did it so we can learn from you,“ said Mr. Licudi.

Editor’s note:

- The meeting was also attended by the Minister for Environment and Energy who is also the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Seychelles, Professor Rolph Payet, the Minister for Education,  Mrs. Macsuzy Mondon, British High Commissioner to Seychelles, Mrs. Lindsay Skoll, Vice Chancellor of the University of Seychelles, Professor Dennis Hardy, and Consultant to Minister Licudi, Dr Darren Fa.