UG should look to attract regional students – UGSS

By: Samuel Sukhnandan

University of Guyana Student Society (UGSS) President Duane Edwards said he would like to see that the University of Guyana (UG) advance into a better institution.
Edwards said despite the many issues that exist at the university, he is still confident that things could change for the better. The UGSS president told Guyana Times International on Tuesday that he believes that UG could become a well-recognised institution and should pursue more students from the Caricom region. Edwards said that he is not in support of the University of Guyana Workers Union’s view that UG could be downgraded to a college, given its current problems.
He contends that UG can come out of its current state if proper interventions and changes are made to the university’s management and structure. “I wouldn’t subscribe to the University of Guyana being downgraded and I think that’s even unthinkable. The University of Guyana should be upgraded,” he said.
Edwards believes that UG is in a fortunate position to be able to provide high quality education at competitively low prices more than many of the other institutions in the region.
The UGSS president believes that with attracting students from various countries, this could help place UG in a better position when compared to other universities. However, Edwards is concerned that the current condition of UG may not be suitable and ready to accept students overseas, and is calling for an intense quality assurance assessment exercise to be undertaken.
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) had approved a grant of US$ 250,000 to guide the rehabilitation of the regulatory and operational framework of the institution. The project is expected to provide a relevant regulatory framework, a resource mobilisation plan, a change management programme, corporate systems and operational procedures.
It should be completed by this month-end, and the coordinator of the project will present recommendations for the development of the institution and further progress.
Edwards said the university is heading for a bad start, given the fact that they already have a Gy$ 500 million deficit. This, he said is already a financial crisis and noted that there is possibility of it reoccurring given the trend of issues there. He said this is an ongoing issue and unless the administration looks into it, things could get worst for the some 5000 students attending the country’s premier institution.
He said too that apart from the financial issue, there are several cultural and management issues that are still to be addressed. Edwards said UG has an old-fashioned structure, and this needs to change urgently if the university is to be a force to be reckoned with.
The UGSS has been raising several issues affecting the operations of the university. These include dysfunctional classrooms, shortage of lecturers and limited resources.
Earlier this year, students, lecturers and academic staff of the university protested at the Turkeyen Campus, demanding better facilities from the administration.