University of Guyana has worst pay scale among peer institutions

May 27, 2010 News

The basic salary of a University of Guyana lecturer is the lowest among universities in the region, says the University of Guyana Strategic Plan, 2009-2012.
That fact and what does the university intend to do about it was the basis of a question that was put to the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Lawrence Carrington, by Christopher Ram on Sunday.
In the University’s Strategic Plan which is posted on the University’s official website at http://www.uog.edu.gy there was an examination of the university’s pay rates. The rates, which were compared to those of other institutions in countries with similar consumer price indices and costs of living, showed that Guyana ranks lowest on the scale.
The University of Guyana was contrasted against salary structures for just one category of lecturers in three of the University of the West Indies (UWI) campuses, which are all in different CARICOM countries and with the Anton de Kom University of Suriname.
Another area of comparison was within the Private Sector at equivalent levels of qualification. There are six categories of lecturers in the University of Guyana—Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer I, Lecturer II, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor on the basis of rank.
The report contrasted the positions of Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer I and Lecturer II with management positions in the private sector, under the headings junior, middle and senior management.
The comparison showed that while the gap (always in favour of the private sector position) was about $10,000 between a junior management position and an Assistant Lecturer, it widened to $30,000 between middle management and Lecturer II. But it was the $45,000 disparity between the basic salaries of senior management positions and those of Lecturer IIs that was most arresting.
These positions are relatively similar in terms of the qualifications needed but the salary differences are one of the factors contributing to the difficulties being faced by the University in recruiting able staff.
Higher positions require even more advanced degrees in the University teaching system, but according to the report the unattractive emolument scheme has contributed to the decline of the teaching staff at the University.
The average university needs a significant portion of its teaching staff to hold higher degrees than the ones the students are reading for. That however is not the case where a large majority of lecturers at the University of Guyana are only holders of Bachelors Degrees in their respective fields.
According to the report the last few years have seen a decline in lecturers who have Masters and Doctoral degrees to single digit numbers while the number of Professors which has always been low to begin with is now down to zero.
Professor Carrington pointed out in his interview that dealing with this challenge is very difficult for the University. “There are,” he said, “no absolute solutions at this juncture.” The main issue is funding, and short of the University receiving anything more from the Government, they must seek alternative sources of revenue. Registrar of the University, Vincent Alexander, had said some time ago that the University had approached the Government to have their appropriations increased, but that increase was not forthcoming.
Professor Carrington noted that they would continue to engage the government on the issue of funding for the improvement of the University.
Meanwhile the recruiting woes of the University continue to affect the quality of the education that the University is able to dispense.

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