The University of Guyana should be privatized

Jan 25, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The strength of the University of Guyana has always been its students. The students have been good, but it is the university which has failed them – rather, the governments which have historically controlled those universities.
The University of Guyana is not a case study about the dangers of politicization of academic institutions, it is an example of two different problem sets: firstly of political neglect; and secondly of the need for institutional revamping rather than the problems of reforming institutions in post-authoritarian societies.
It is not the politicization of the University of Guyana that has led to its present problems. Rather, it is the failure of the PPP to recognize two important truisms: firstly, that certain institutions cannot, in the post-authoritarian era, be simply reformed. They have to be completely dismantled and rebuilt.
Secondly, the decline of the University of Guyana is as a result of the PNCR strong-armed tactics and PPP neglect by allowing the University to become a den of opposition activism. The government can put their lackeys on the Council. They can appoint distinguished and independent administrators at the University. They can ensure that professionals are in charge of the University. It does not matter. Power is on the ground at the University and the PNCR has always controlled the ground at the University of Guyana.
The University of Guyana, at one time, had the most independent of all trade unions in Guyana. They were fiercely militant and they were fiercely independent. They represented both the academic and the non-academic staff.
The PNC, however, in order to break a crippling strike at the University, split that union and created a union for academics, and from that day onwards it is the PNCR that controlled the ground at the University of Guyana, because no one union can shut the University down.
When the PPPC came to power in 1992 it neglected its duty to depoliticize the University of Guyana.
In fact, it seemed comfortable in allowing the University to become a major foothold of the PNC, so much so that the PNCR achieved an unprecedented stranglehold on the university. The attitude of the PPPC to the University was almost as if they were saying that the university was not a priority and that it was okay for it to become a bastion of opposition control and support. And this is exactly what happened.
The PPP learnt the hard way that certain institutions simply cannot be reformed, not even through neglect. These institutions have to be dismantled and rebuilt or revamped. The PPP did not understand this, and therefore found themselves in a mess in terms of both the Guyana Police Force and the University of Guyana.

Reform is not going to come with new policies, new councils, new administration or an injection of significant resources. What is needed is a new university, one that is free of the vice of the PNCR and the PPPC. The University of Guyana should be sold and converted to a private institution. Alternatively, the university may be broken-up into a series of self-governing schools which are managed in a way to achieve full cost recovery. This model will reduce overheads and make the respective programs easier to administer.
Right now, education at the university is being heavily subsidized by taxpayers. A free education or a subsidized education has resulted in a poor education. This means that students get a lesser quality of education than they deserve.
Taxpayers should no longer have to carry the university. It should be created into a commercially viable institution, free from dependence on government. It should be privatized. But which of the political parties contesting for elections will have the courage to propose this? None. And that is why the University of Guyana is destined to continue as a third class university.

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