U.S. professor outlines vision for University of Guyana

By Lakhram Bhagirat

A well functioning and internationally respected University of Guyana can be built along the lines of the American system, but modified to suit Guyanese conditions, to attract scores of students from within the country and overseas, Professor Rory Fraser declared.
He was at the time delivering a lecture on “University of Guyana: Transformed and Transcendent,” promoting his candidacy for vice chancellorship of the university.
He said that recent exposure to the conditions at the university and interactions with staff members have provided him with the knowledge essential to the development of the institution. He said if given the chance, he will ensure that UG develops into a 21st century university following the American approach.
“My approach will be transformation, to lead, inspire, motivate and enable people at UG to understand and engage the kind of development that is required. It would require them to think about defining and rethinking our organisational structure…. it requires us to communicate and understand,” he said.
“We need to understand the changes we have to make in terms of our social, economical, and political context. We have to think about how we organise and design as an institution, we have to think about our structure and governance. We all have to be involved in the budgeting and financing of the institution…. we have to engage stakeholders; it requires developing political strategies both on and off of campus, we need to change the control of the organisation …. we need to establish our core values, we need to set realistic goals,” he said.
Fraser said that UG is a place where some of the best educated and most motivated young people interact with some of the most dedicated and reflective older generation. He outlined that universities are places where the leaders of the future develop, where they learn discipline, resilience, and determination in demonstrating their abilities to improve their knowledge.
Tomorrow’s UG
Fraser said that an institution judged by persons of flawed academic and political persuasion will not be fulfilling its charter. “Tomorrow’s UG has to be far more capable and effective if Guyana is to achieve the level of progress envisioned by so many and to be competitive in a regional and global scenario,” he added.
Fraser explained that the history of American universities is inextricably bound on the history of America itself. He noted that the protection of ideas and expressions from external political interference became absolutely fundamental to the universities in America and that is a factor that has driven the advance of America into the 21st century.
He stated that some of the top universities in the world are shaped around those core values which includes universalism, organised scepticism, the creation of knowledge, free and open communication of knowledge, disinterestedness, free inquiry and academic freedom, international communities, peer review system, governance by authority, intellectual prodigy, and the vitality of community.
As he sought to expound on the vitality of communities, he stated that it is very important as those institutions that practise it are often willing to entertain new ideas even if they threaten the relevance of the older ways, as it serves as a part of their intellectual vitality.
“A prestigious university with the diverse and talented student body can adjust, will be a catalyst for foreign investment  and a leader for continued economic growth, but for many years UG – Guyana’s flagship of education has been tarred in the dungeons of political incision and bureaucratic methodology resulting in many lost opportunities,” he added.
As he continued to expound on his proposed role, Fraser said that he seeks to bring the American model to the university since it has proven to be successful and one that can be adjusted to suit the Guyanese population.
When asked how long this process would take, he could not give a definite answer since he believes everyone needs to work collectively to achieve the outlined results. He explained that a timeframe was not established, because one person cannot transform the institution, rather it takes everyone on campus to succeed.
Professor Fraser is a professor of forest economics and policy, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the Alabama A&M University, United States of America.