The Vision of Vice-Chancellor Ivelaw Griffith for the University of Guyana
– By Dr Dhanpaul Narine
Dr. Ivelaw Griffith
In late 2016 the University of Guyana (UG) will award degrees for the fiftieth time since its founding. This should be a special occasion. Guyana celebrated with much fanfare its fiftieth anniversary as an independent nation in May 2016. Guyana and its University then are intertwined. There is every reason as to why the health of the University should be high on the list of policymakers but this has not always been the case.
A fact-finding tour by Education Resource Ambassadors in June 2016 found a number of areas in which improvement is needed. The list emerged from students and staff.
For example there is no university bookshop, sports facilities are lacking as are up-to-date textbooks. Where are the hats, cups, scarves, T-shirts, and other paraphernalia to brand UG? Why are thousands of grades submitted late? Could it be that lecturers are fed up because of poor wages and conditions?
Read more: Vision of VC Ivelaw Griffith of UG- By Dr. Dhanpaul Narine
Comments
Here two news items on the University of Guyana.
UG’s hike in some salaries, allowances raises concerns – Demerara Waves http://bit.ly/29WhQzw
UG students to pay graduation fee; lecturers to be punished for delivering late grades – Demerara Waves http://bit.ly/2adce30
“Tuition fees were a token 100 dollars per year – a figure well within the reach of all income groups.”
In 1963, it was made easy for Guyanese to obtain a University Education. Now, it seems that it is not! A Graduation Fee – for Heaven sake!!
I speak without knowing all the pertinent facts and factors. That should not preclude me from asking, Where is ‘Corporate Guyana’? Where are the “Friends of UG”? At home and abroad.
Wha happen? Cockaroach eat out we conscience?
http://www.guyana.org/features/guyanastory/chapter167.html
Dr Griffith should focus on the enticement of “unpaid” Visiting Lecturers, many of whom have left Guyana and have not returned to “pay any dues” so to speak. The Guyana brain drain is deeply settled in the USA, Canada, UK and the Caribbean. A curriculum could be developed to accommodate Fellowships in Technology, Liberal Arts, Health Care and many other disciplines…taking a page out of Doctors Without Borders playbook as an example. It is a small sacrifice to pay for one’s country’s future generations.