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UG notes growing demand for engineers
– Vice Chancellor says oil and gas sector absorbing graduates swiftly
Kaieteur News – In a recent episode of the Dr. Randy Persaud Show aired on NCN this past Sunday, University of Guyana’s Vice Chancellor, Paloma Mohamed, delved into the institution’s current standing and the challenges faced in meeting the country’s growing demand for engineers.
University of Guyana’s Vice Chancellor, Dr. Paloma Mohamed
During the interview, Mohamed revealed statistics about UG, citing a staggering 65,000 graduates in its 61-year history, with current enrollment hovering around 11,900 students.
A focal point of the discussion was the Engineering Faculty, notably undergoing a significant transformation. Mohamed highlighted the provision of five distinct engineering programmes, marking the Faculty of Engineering and Technology as one of the institution’s fastest-growing sectors. “(The faculty) is one of the fastest growing. It had been basically neglected for donkey years because we could not absorb the number of engineers and now we can’t produce enough engineers,” she said.
Despite a threefold increase in engineering graduates since 2020, demand outstrips supply. The Vice Chancellor said: “so we have treble the number of engineers that we were producing since 2020 but still that’s not enough because they are getting absorbed even before they graduate into the international private sector and the local private sector is losing them. The government sector is losing them and of course UG is losing our own people…”
Dr. Mohamed underscored the surge in applications following Guyana’s oil discovery in 2016. “We saw a dramatic increase in applications especially among women and girls and we started to increase the number of intake but that is still not enough,” she added. Mohamed noted, “We are not producing specialists our engineering programme is a first degree programme now if you want a specialist you need to take that person… the oil and gas industry has been taking them and putting them through programmes.”
To combat this issue, Mohamed outlined plans to expand existing laboratories, constrained by limited space. Moreover, Mohamed shed light on UG’s admission process, involving a ranking system based on qualifications, often resulting in the exclusion of students from certain regions with lower academic performance. To address this, an ‘underserved policy’ has been implemented, reserving slots for students from hinterland and other outlining regions.
Discussing ongoing initiatives, Mohamed revealed the Greater Guyana Initiative (GGI) aimed at expanding laboratories facilities by mid-2024. Additionally, she disclosed that plans are underway to establish an engineering faculty at the Tain Campus in Berbice, alleviating the need for students to travel to the main campus. The UG Vice Chancellor also disclosed that they are working on the implementation of immersive reality training. This will streamline lab-based learning by integrating virtual reality experiences to expedite learning processes.
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- Dr. Paloma Mohamed, Dr. Randy Persaud Show, Oil and Gas Sector, University of Guyana, Vice Chancellor
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