Director Alumni and International Relations Directorate, Bernadette Cole, said the college was able to maintain its existence even after the founding fathers had left, adding that the college would be celebrating a long-standing excellence.

She paid tribute to the contributions of the college to society over the years, emphasizing that could be overemphasized.

She made reference to President Ernest Bai Koroma and vice president Victor Bockarie Foh as examples of successful people in politics, noting that that was evidence of the excellence of Fourah Bay College.

A lecturer of the Mass Communication Department, Francis Sowa, stated that the theme for this year’s celebration was pursuing excellence in serving humanity, stating that it what the university has been doing since its establishment.

Fourah Bay is the oldest university in sub-Saharan Africa and it will be one hundred and ninety years on 18 February 2017.

The college was first established in Regent village in the outskirts of Freetown in 1827, and was later moved to Fourah Bay at Cline Town. In 1876 it was affiliated with Durham University in Britain and the degrees awarded to graduates of the college until 1969 were Durham Degrees. In 1960 by a Royal Charter it was made a university college.