Government and U.G. must work together to address challenges 

Jan 31, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Commentaries have suggested that UG is in need for stronger leadership. Ideas or suggestions were not clearly offered on leadership improvement, and thus it is difficult to propose or pursue solutions. The university has been the subject of conversation by politicians, staff, and other stakeholders during my sojourn in Guyana last week.  Conversations with stakeholders (including staff and students) mentioned some concerns in confidence.  And in light of recent comments, the public is concerned about what is happening at UG and would like to hear more from the government about its concerns – what are the serious issues, what programmes it wants, and what needs to be done. The public want measures taken to address them in order to improve the quality of instruction and learning at the university.

I think government representatives should meet with UG administration and express their concerns about the university. UG can be transformed into a modern, first-class public institution as found say in Singapore or India (IIT, IIM, etc.) or California or Texas or New York, or among other places. The present Vice Chancellor has been trying under very difficult circumstance to run the affairs of the university. I think UG has done better in the last three years under Dr. Paloma Mohamed’s leadership than under several preceding VCs. Staff told me she has tried to improve delivery of instruction and knowledge and introduced new programmes as well as offering doctorates in partnership with other universities. They say she has been a responsible VC and agree with the conclusion that university has been better managed than under her predecessor.

In my limited engagement with Prof. Paloma, she has committed to improving the quality of education at the university. She has also demonstrated a willingness to engage, to listen to views of others, and to act on achievable goals in the best interests of the university and by extension the country. She has been accommodating. There is room for improvement and to address many challenges.

It is not an easy task to run the affairs of the university with its myriad of problems. The University of Guyana has had institutionalized issues (funding, state of buildings, programmes, student composition, administrative capacity, working conditions and work ethic, salaries, benefits, quality and competency of staff, capacity of students, ethnic composition of student body and staff, racial discrimination, standards of entrance, utility of programmes, among so many others) that go back to the1960s right after its founding by the great Dr. Cheddi Jagan (who was engineered out of office). These have been consistently ignored, swept under the carpet by succeeding governments; President Cheddi Jagan pursued improvement but was handicapped by an empty (negative) treasury during his tenure. Succeeding Presidents Jagdeo and Ramotar tried to uplift quality of education but without much progress because of administrative issues. There were charges of political interference and financial mal-administration during the coalition tenure. Administrations (VCs, the Board, and others) of the premier institution complained they have been limited in their ability to address nagging problems. Funding was always and still is an issue. Prof Paloma has managed to raise grants.

Every academic institution in any part of the globe, even the best rated universities like Harvard, MIT, Yale, Oxford, Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Management, etc., had and has issues, and they are constantly addressing them. They are addressed by their respective boards and by the goading of government and the public.

Government should pursue ways to work collaboratively with the Vice Chancellor to improve programmes and instructions to impart other and more appropriate knowledge to students in training a modern workforce for Guyana’s economic transformation.  We need to know the problems, issues, and challenges at the university in order to address them to help improve its standing or ranking. A panel should be commissioned (by the university’s Vice Chancellor jointly with council, government, other stakeholders) to identify areas of weaknesses at the university and appropriate expertise sought to address them.

Government and U.G. administration have to clearly articulate their vision, strategy, and plan for the university. Unless there are engagements followed by recommendations, there will not be actions for improvements.

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram

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• challenges, conversations, Government, programmes, Vishnu Bisram

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