Latest update January 7th, 2025 4:10 AM
May 02, 2014 News
— warns that University’s failure is country’s failure
“If UG fails, this country fails,” was the firm assertion of Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG), Professor Jacob Opadeyi, as he emphasised the importance of the country’s premier tertiary institution.
The Vice Chancellor was at the time speaking at a ceremony on Wednesday at which the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) signed over financial aid amounting to $60 million to be utilised mainly in the area of information technology.
He pointed out that since the local institution is supposed to be a symbol of growth and prosperity, the country’s keen efforts must be made to ensure that it is able to thrive.
“When you talk about Harvard, Oxford (universities), they are symbols of those countries (United States and England), and those countries would not allow anything untoward to happen to those institutions,” Professor Opadeyi keenly observed.
Moreover, he stressed that since UG cannot be classified as either a Government or Opposition institution but rather one that belongs to the nation, “we cannot sit back and say okay ‘UG is not doing this, UG is not doing that’. We have got to think of what can we do for UG.’”
And it was just such a move that was embraced by GT&T, Professor Opadeyi noted, as he disclosed that it was the telephone company’s Chief Executive Officer, Radha Krishna Sharma, who pursued the University to offer support.
“I am very particularly happy that R.K. Sharma came into my office. The right thing is for me to be knocking on doors, which is what I have been doing for the past year, and I want to let anyone know that if the VC has not yet come to you, you can come to us…You have the responsibility to say this is what I have done for this University…” challenged Professor Opadeyi.
He pointed out that if the University is allowed to fail there will be an undeniable impact on the younger generation, even as he speculated that it is often “when your children get to 18, that is when you start determining their future. Where will they go afterwards?”
UG, according to Professor Opadeyi, is a facility that is mandated to produce professionals who can help the country to become competitive in whatever it engages.
Currently the enrolment at the University stands at under 7,000 but according to the Vice Chancellor “we can do better than that…our enrolment should increase to 10,000, 15,000.”
He however noted that even if 25 per cent of the population have a first degree, it is not merely an achievement to ensure that they are qualified for employment but rather “it has to do with improving our intellect, improving our ability to create jobs (and) not just to look for jobs.”
As such, he noted that GT&T’s investment in the University is one that can be deemed as particularly significant since according to him, “when you want to classify whether a University is good to attend, you start by looking at its information technology platform.”
The financial support from the telephone company is designed to ensure that, among other things, the University’s Centre for Information Technology is upgraded and maintained. Funding in this regard is slated to be expended over a three-year period in $20 million tranches annually.
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