The University of Guyana…a university for Guyana

Jul 30, 2017 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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(Address by HE David Granger to the University of Guyana Diaspora Engagement Conference)

I enrolled as an undergraduate of the University of Guyana in 1965, returning to the Queen’s College classrooms which I had left in 1964. The University, established only two years earlier in 1963, had no campus. Classes had to be

conducted in the evening on QC’s premises.
Prime Minister Forbes Burnham received 586 hectares of the former sugar cane Plantation Turkeyen on behalf of the Guyanese nation on 24th May 1966, two days before Independence.
He embarked on the construction of the campus – giving the University a permanent home of its own – which was opened in February 1970 when Guyana became a republic.
I have been a witness to the University’s passage from its infancy. I loved the University as a student, lecturer, member of the Council, president of the Guild of Graduates. I perceive my mission – as President, not as a parent but as a product of the process – to propel the University’s progress.
The University, from the start, suffered from ‘birth defects’. The University of Guyana Ordinance was assented to, hastily, only on 18th April 1963. The University was inaugurated less than six months later on 1st October 1963 and classes began the next day.
The University was born in the midst of political disturbances which deprived it of the support of a significant section of society. The decision of the government-of-the-day not to integrate with the University of the West Indies (UWI) family reflected its refusal not to integrate with the Federation of the West Indies.
Dr Eric Williams, then UWI Pro-Chancellor, failed to convince the government not to establish an independent university. The decision to stay outside of the UWI family might have created consequential problems of credibility and, even, of accreditation.
The University, in the early decades, drifted from its objectives of discovery and dissemination of knowledge for national development. It enrolled a disproportionately high number of students in the arts and social sciences compared to the natural sciences.
The majority of students – about ninety-five per cent – in the first decade for example, were employees of the public service, public corporations and teaching professions, and fewer than five percent in the private sector.
Growing pains compounded the University’s birth defects. The economic situation in the late 1970s and early 1980s had a negative impact on financing. Several programmes could no longer be supported by State funds. The University, as a result, fell behind UWI’s Caribbean campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
The University experienced a ‘science and technology’ shift as Guyana became a Republic in 1970. It was the start of the brilliant era of visionary leadership in the decade following the occupation of Turkeyen.
Dennis Irvine, appointed Vice-Chancellor in 1969, was a scientist. He served under a government which sought to encourage greater access to higher education by abolishing tuition fees in 1974.
Irvine understood the need and undertook the task to balance the University’s affinity for the humanities with the necessity for embracing the sciences.
The University, during the Irvine era, employed lecturers from academia around the world, enjoyed respect for its intellectual rigor and expanded the breadth of its programmes to include agriculture, education, earth and environmental sciences, fisheries, the natural sciences, social sciences and technology.
The University, in spite of its financial and material constraints, provided opportunities for thousands of Guyanese who never before dreamt of acquiring a tertiary education.
The University’s second ‘science and technology’ shift is about to begin. This country is on a developmental pathway to become a ‘green’ state. The ‘green’ development agenda will see increased investment in biodiversity management, coastal zone management, solid waste management, ecological and environmental services, eco-education and eco-tourism, information and communications technology, expanded protected areas and renewable energy.
Guyana, located at the centre of the Guiana Shield – one of the world’s last remaining tracts of virgin rainforest – is rich in biodiversity most of which is endemic to the ‘Shield’. It is a ‘green’ global asset which must be protected for mankind and for the sustainable development of countries which belong to the Shield.
Guyana’s ecosystems support diverse species, to the extent that as of 2010, Guyana’s species status was estimated at 8,000 plant species; 467 fishes; 130 amphibians; 179 reptiles; 814 birds; 225 mammals; 1,673 arthropods; over 1,200 fungi; 33 bacteria; 13 nematodes; 44 algae; 17 molluscs; and an estimated 30 virus. Guyana has a total of 1,182 native tree species.
Guyana, possessing abundant natural capital – from the islands of the Essequibo; the lowlands and wetlands of the coastland; the highlands, grasslands and rainforests of the hinterland and spectacular rapids, rivers, waterfalls and lakes – also provides the habitat to a score of the world’s largest animals. Its high levels of endemicity are a priceless natural resource.
Guyana, larger than England and Scotland combined, is deficient in the physical infrastructure essential for economic development such as aerodromes, bridges, highways, housing, deep-water ports and stellings.
Its coastal and riverine defences, conservancies, and drainage and irrigation systems must be repaired and maintained to protect human habitations from the adverse effects of climate change such as rising sea levels, flooding, drought and extreme weather patterns.
Guyana’s green development strategy aims at advancing climate adaptation so as to protect its fragile coastline and reduce environmental hazard which can be destructive to our people’s livelihoods.
The University is central to fulfilling the scientific and technological objectives of a ‘green’ state. The University must drive the intellectual processes of ‘green’ development by becoming the incubator of technology and nurturer of skills and talents. It must establish institutions and educate students to advance green development.
The country needs biologists, botanists and zoologists to document and study its unique and unmatched rich biodiversity; engineers to erect infrastructure in its hinterland and to install hydroelectric-, wind-, solar- and biomass- energy plant; geologists and gemmologists to provide services for the sustainable management of our extractive sectors; agriculturists and veterinarians to promote food security and Information and Communication specialists to extend ICT services.
The University of Guyana, if it is to survive and thrive, must become a university for Guyana. The national University must be responsive to national needs. How could it be otherwise?

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