“I cannot express how grateful I’m for the unwavering trust and opportunity given me by the Acting President of the University of Liberia, Prof. Dr. Al-Hassan Conteh to honor an invitation from Sharda University in New Delhi, India to serve as Visiting Professor for two months.” I’ m truly grateful and thank Dr. Conteh for believing in me to fulfill the mission entrusted to me, says Associate Professor Dr. Josephus M. Gray, Dean of the Amos C. Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Liberia and Acting President of the Grand Kru Technical College.
“After attending my fourth class on Tuesday, 5th November 2024, I have learned and experienced many new things in such a short period of time that are endless.” Furthermore, “I felt at abode at the distinguished Sharda University where I have got a lot of students in the Master’s studies program from different backgrounds, outside of India.”
In spite of my association with the institution and countless visits on school’s world class campuses in Knowledge Park, Greater Norda, I realized that I could not fully understand the academic quality was like until I experienced it by myself.
My first day on campus as a visiting professor was full of friendly faces offering help, advice, and greeted me with open arms at the Department of Political Science, School of Humanities and Sciences, Sharda University. Foremost, the Dean of Sharda University School of Humanities and Sciences wanted to know what course I wanted to teach based on my expertise and qualification. I consider this chapter of my life as one of the most productive chapters for gaining more understanding and skills in teaching.
It’s a very cool moment since I have prepared for it. So excited that I have already outlined my lectures for the two months, ordered my textbooks online and was given ideas for midterm exam questions, This is a unique experience and hope that UL in the future would be well considered offering other colleagues from other colleges similar opportunity to undertake such experience in India. Hoping that UL will also reciprocate similar offer for a professorship professors from Sharda University to join the faculty at the University of Liberia for a month or academic semester.
At Sharda University, the quality of teaching is based on high standard, style, basic behavior, communication skills and interaction with the students. Besides, professor’s role goes beyond the classroom, but highly considered research, without peer reviewed publication, no faculty gets promoted. Importantly, no faculty is allowed in class to teach without sharing the course lessons and materials with the Chairpersons of departments for review, scrutiny and approval.
Being at Sharda University is amazing experience and touching, mainly spending so much time with meeting one-on-one with students to guide them in pursue of their educational goal. The art of tolerance and patience make one closer with one another at the institution.
I have found the administrators, professors, faculty, staffs and students to be warm, friendly and hospitable. They are people with a great sense of humor and treat guests with admiration; it is also interesting to experience the diversity of culture, environment, and Indian meals.
On the other hand, the most surprising experience was to see the students always seated in class before my arrival for class. The students are required to register 75 percent of class attendance before they can be allowed to write their final examinations while exams papers are graded by professors outside Sharda University. All exams, whether Mid-term or Final Exams must be Essay based questions administered for two-three hours.
I’m offered Political Science MOP 177 (International Relations) course about the Geopolitics of Energy in the two-year master’s studies program; it is a four credit-hour course and taught on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, respectfully. The combined sections enrollment of 75 students from 17 different countries with age range 17-22. Interestingly, students attending at Sharda University are from 96 countries with female’s enrollment about 60% of the total enrollment of the university.
The section offered on Tuesdays runs from 10:25am-11:25am in room D1-BS7, while Thursdays section runs from 8:35am-09:35 in room D1-BS7. The two sections scheduled on Fridays run from 8:35am-09:35am in room F13-BS7 and 09:30am-10:30am room D1-BS7 in Block 7, Sharda University School of Humanities and Social Sciences, respectively.
All course materials must meet the university’s standard under the Indian Government set guidelines for teaching at any university and college across the country. The course contents and materials must be approved by heads of departments before being used in class. Each classroom contains CCTV cameras used by the various chairpersons or heads of departments to monitor teaching and learning. The entire campus of the school is under 24 hours security monitoring with more than 4,500 security cameras.
The final examinations are prepared by the Office of Exams, not instructor who taught the course for the semester. As a matter of policy, no one is hired as faculty to teach or serve as administrative staff without expertise and use of computer which serves as one of the major requirements for hiring individuals at the institutions.
Meanwhile, Dr. Josephus M. Gray, who was appointed in January 2020 as Dean of the Amos C. Sawyer College has a rich history of leadership within the university, including serving as President of UL Student Press Club, Part-time Faculty, Instructor, Assistant Professor and now Associate Professor.
He continues to make immense contributions to UL’s academic community as an Associate Professor of International Relations, IBB Graduate Program of International Studies. He is a native born Liberian, hails from the Southeastern Village of Kayken, Barclayville District in Grand Kru County, Republic of Liberia, but earned his childhood education in Harper City, Maryland County.
Dr. Gray has earned the highest level of education in his chosen academic field including a Ph.D. in International Relations and Diplomacy from the HELP-CEDS University in Paris, Republic of France. Dr. Gray further earned MA in International Relations and BA in Communication (Print Journalism) from the University of Liberia.
Dr. Gray earned advanced Diploma in Modern Journalism (2006) from ICFJ in Washington, D.C. USA; Diploma in Modern Diplomacy, (2008) from Chinese Foreign Affairs University, Beijing, China; Certificate in Practical Research (2017), Bibliotheque International Library, Paris, France and Certificate in Digital Journalism (2006) from the World Newspaper Editors Forum. Cape Town, South Africa.
It is interesting to note that Dr. Gray 580-page Ph.D. dissertation title: “Effect of Diplomacy: Liberia-U.S.-China’s Triangular Relations” was successfully defended in the presence of four academics jury of astute French professors including (1)Prof. Dr. Faund NOHRA, Associate Professor at Paris Dscartes University; Prof. Dr. Souha AKIKI, President of Paris Graduate School/ Innovative Knowledge Institute;, Dr. Prof. Michael STRAUSS, Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on Unilateral Coercive Measures and Human Rights and Dr. Prof. Michael LEBEDEV, Senior Diploma at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
At the public sector level, Dr. Gray has held positions such as Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, Assistant Foreign Minister for Public Affairs; Political Counselor, Embassy of Liberia in Paris, France, and Minister Counsellor/ Charge D’ Affairs, Liberia’s Permanent Mission to the Swiss Federation and the United Nations in Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland.
At other levels, he earned diplomas and certificates in foreign policy Studies, international relations, diplomacy, print journalism, development communication, research methodology, and leadership from Paris, France; Genera, Switzerland; Beijing, China; Washington, D.C., USA; Cape Town, South Africa; Rabat, Morocco; Accra, Ghana; Dakar, Senegal and Monrovia, Liberia.
Dr. Gray has wildly written and published over 300 per-reviewed articles in local and international journals and three books. His most recent book characterizes the existing relationships among Liberia, China and the United States of America as “triangular, and is on sale in 160 countries across the world. The book is reproduced in several languages including French, Italian, Chinese, and Spanish. Besides, the book published by Amazon has gained international recognition and produced into film in the USA.
At the University of Liberia, Dr. Gray taught research methods course in several departments including the Departments of Political Science, Communication and Media Studies, Social Science and English and Language Studies, as well as teaching, research, publication and capacity building.
His extensive leadership roles have included Dean of the ACS College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Chairman, Council of Deans, University of Liberia, Co-chairman of the Grand Kru Technical College and Member of the Professor Amos C. Sawyer Educational Foundation; Sharda University in India Ambassador to Liberia and Member of Council of the International Confucian Association and Acting President, Grand Kru Technical College in Barclayville.
In the area of pre-reviewed publications, Dr. Gray has authored for the following publications: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Impact of ELearning at the University of Liberia; Analysis of the Similarities and Disparities: the tale of Liberian Press and Global Media practices; Analysis of the Impact and Intricacies of Liberian Foreign policy and international Relations over the last 75 years; Comparison and Contrast of China and Liberia’s Contemporary Global Status: Analysis of CPC’s Scientific Theories Democratic Governance and National Development in Post-war Liberia; The Effect of Diplomacy: Liberia, US, China’s Triangular Relations.
Other pulsations include: The Consequences of the Unforgotten Liberian Civil War; The Tale of Violence against Liberian Media: The Curse of Bad Governance and Rampant Corruption in Africa and China and African Countries Independent Exploration of Development Path, while his books include: Liberia’s Emerging Democracy: published in Paris, France 2012 and Effect of Diplomacy, published 2021 by Amazon, Washington State, USA. His contributions to book chapters include: The New Dimension: Beijing Influence in Liberia and Analysis of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its Impact on Liberia’s Infrastructure Development.
Prof. Gray holds membership in reputable professional journals such as: International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Sciences (IJROSS), International Research Journal of Public and Environmental Health and Academia.edu located on 580 California St, Suite 400, San Francisco, USA.
He is a member of the Africa-China Think Tanks Forum, Beijing, People’s Republic of China and Council Member of the International Confucian Association, headquarters in Beijing, China. Dr. Gray also supervised about 46 MA Thesis from 2018-2021 and 16 BA Thesis from 2020-2023, respectively. He has won multiple awards across the University of Liberia and India.
