The campus was founded in 1998 in Kotu-Kanifing, a suburb of Sere Kunda. It was not until March 1999 that the UTG started to offer courses, following a law passed by the National Assembly of the Gambia.[6] In 1999, 300 students are reported to have been enrolled. As of 2002, the number of academic staff was 44. In 2006, nearly 2000 students were enrolled.[7]The Gambian government has planned to create a new campus at Faraba Banta.[8]
On October 11, 2012, it was reported that the university has started two master's degree programs in public health in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Springfield and the University of Iowa. According to Vaccine News Daily: "Rex Kuye, the head of the public health department, said that the two programs were conceived of locally to address growing health concerns in the Gambia. The Gambia has made many public health strides in the last two decades. The nation was certified as polio free in 2004 and has had no confirmed polio cases since that time. The success in the battle against polio resulted from high political commitment and routine polio immunization coverage of more than 90 percent since 1990, according to the Foroyaa Newspaper."[17]
^GDN Working Paper Series. Micro-Financing as a Means of Reducing Extreme Poverty: The Case of Senegal and the Gambia. By Aloysius Ajab Amin and Tharcisse Ntilivamunda. (October 2009). p iii (p 3) [1] and Mr Sillah's C.V. (see also UTG Faculty [2]