New Guyana-Russia universities agreement “has some teeth”

Jun 05, 2015 News

By Desilon Daniels
A long-standing collaboration between the University of Guyana and a Russian University, was yesterday strengthened following the signing of an agreement between the two institutions.

UG Vice Chancellor Jacob Opadeyi (left) and PFUR First Vice-Rector Professor Evgeny Shchesnyak sign the agreement

New life was breathed into an agreement between UG and the People’s Friendship University of Russia (PFUR) when UG Vice Chancellor, Jacob Opadeyi and PFUR First Vice-Rector Professor, Evgeny Shchesnyak, signed a Cooperation Agreement yesterday at the Turkeyen campus.
Before the signing, UG Vice-Chancellor Jacob Opadeyi opined that the new agreement will “have some teeth”.
In his brief remarks, Opadeyi noted that PFUR approached UG on its own to renew the collaboration between the two universities.
According to Opadeyi, the agreement will cover a broad scope, including the promoting of resources for lecturers, for teaching and research purposes. Furthermore, the agreement will see the preparation and translation of textbooks, the exchange of publications and the exchange of both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
He shared that the universities are actively looking to send some of Guyana’s own lecturers to do PhD studies in Russia. He said too, that the universities are looking into agricultural production, agricultural engineering and facilitating business between local businesspersons and those from Russia.
While some Guyanese will benefit from quick courses, those who are in the PhD programmes, will have to stay at least one year to complete their respective programmes. However, Opadeyi said, the university is prepared for such an event.
He also expressed excitement that the agreement will create the space for Russian textbooks to be translated to other languages such as English, Dutch and Portuguese, an advancement that he opined would be beneficial not only to Guyana, but its neighbouring countries of Suriname and Brazil.
Additionally, the fields of Agriculture, Mathematics and the Sciences will be on the front burner with the renewed agreement, but the scope, he clarified, “is for anything that we can work on”.
“We’re excited about the possibilities of this initiative. We’re also excited that the PFUR has some programmes that are in English Language, so our students can go and take those programmes and come back. This agreement can really transform our university to where we want it to be,” Opadeyi emphasised.
He said too that similar initiatives are being planned, and he expressed confidence that these will be unveiled later this year.
Professor Shchesnyak also expressed optimism at the renewed agreement, opining that there were benefits for both of the involved universities.
Since June 2, Shchesnyak and his delegation have been in Guyana to visit and strengthen its educational exchanges with the country.
The focal point of the visit was yesterday’s signing between UG and PFUR. Over the past few days the delegation met not only with Opadeyi, but also with Education Minister Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge.