UG Chancellor calls grades delay ‘completely unacceptable’

Sep 21, 2026 News

---

…urges action to ensure students don’t suffer

Kaieteur News – The Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG), Sir Ronald Sanders, has apologised to students affected by the prolonged delay in the release of grades for Criminal Law I and II for the 2024/2025 academic year, declaring that the situation is “completely unacceptable.”

The delayed results have reportedly caused anxiety and uncertainty for students, particularly those seeking admission to regional law schools or requiring complete academic records for academic and professional purposes.

Sir Ronald said the matter was brought to his attention by the President of the University of Guyana Students’ Society on September 17, 2026. He said he immediately referred the complaint to Chairman of the Transitional Management Team, Professor Stafford Griffith, and ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the outstanding grades.

However, after being informed that the matter had only been partially addressed by the September 18 deadline, the Chancellor issued further directives to the University administration. Among other things, he instructed that all affected students be identified and informed of the status of their grades and the steps being taken to resolve the matter.

He also ordered that urgent measures be put in place to ensure that no student suffers academic or professional disadvantage because of the University’s delay.

Sir Ronald said he was alarmed to learn that, despite some action being taken by September 18, the issue remained unresolved and some students had still not received their grades. The Chancellor has specifically directed the Registrar and Examinations Division to communicate candidly with affected students, stressing that the marking of examination scripts or submission of mark sheets must not be confused with the official release of approved grades.

Where students face imminent application or admission deadlines, the University is expected to provide certified explanatory letters, interim academic documentation or direct confirmation to the Council of Legal Education and relevant law schools.

The University will also consider exceptional measures, through the appropriate academic authorities, to prevent students from being prejudiced by circumstances beyond their control.

Beyond resolving the immediate crisis, Sir Ronald has ordered an administrative review into why the grades remained outstanding for such an extended period, why earlier assurances were not fulfilled and what changes are needed to prevent a recurrence.

The Registrar will also be required to determine whether similarly outstanding grades exist elsewhere at the University and report the findings to the Transitional Management Team and University Council.

Sir Ronald said the University’s immediate responsibility is to complete the outstanding academic processes, protect affected students and provide accurate information. He said the institution must also establish accountability for the failure and strengthen the systems governing the submission, approval and release of examination results.

In an anonymous letter to the press one of the affected students complained about the continued failure of the university to release outstanding grades. “The class of some 100 students (it is likely much more, as there are students who had to resit exams) sat our first examination for this course on December 2, 2024. On October 1, 2025 ten months later a letter was published in the Stabroek News highlighting the unacceptable delay in the release of our Criminal Law I and II grades. The very next day, the university responded publicly, acknowledging the delay as “regrettable” and assuring the student body that the outstanding grades would be released “within the next week.” That was over eleven months ago. Today, nearly twenty-two months after we sat that first exam, students still have no clear information on the status of those grades, no revised timeline, and no explanation beyond a promise that was never kept,” the student wrote in the latest letter.

“This is no longer a minor administrative hiccup,” the staudent continued.” “It is a matter of real consequence for real students. Final-year LLB candidates are, in the coming months, expected to submit applications to regional law schools such as the Hugh Wooding Law School. Incomplete or unverifiable transcripts at this stage put our applications, and by extension their entire professional trajectories, at risk. And the problem is not confined to my graduating class; second-year students, too, remain in limbo over these same grades, with no indication of when or whether that will change. I suspect this issue affects a similar number of year-two students, bringing the total affected students to well over 200.”

Compounding the issue, the student said is the university’s own resit policy. “Students who are found to have failed a course may resit, but are capped at a maximum grade of C regardless of their actual performance on the resit. For students who are managing this alongside a full course load and, in many cases, full- or part-time employment, that policy raises serious questions of fairness particularly when the delay is entirely of the university’s own making. It is one thing to ask students to accept a capped grade after a fair and timely process; it is another to ask them to accept it after years of institutional silence,” the student noted.

The student said that there was a moment, at the start of this semester, when it seemed the university might finally engage with the problem. “The new Head of the Department of Law, Prof. Courtney Abel, met with students and was directly asked about the status of the missing grades. Prof. Abel admitted he was not aware of the outstanding grades and promised to look into the matter and report back to the class. That was the last students heard of it. No update has followed. I do not doubt that individual staff members within the department are acting in good faith. But good faith from individuals cannot substitute for institutional accountability. Students affected by this delay across two cohorts now deserve more than vague assurances. They deserve a specific date for release of these grades, a clear explanation of what has caused a year-long delay on top of already-broken promises, and a commitment to communicate proactively rather than waiting to be asked, yet again, in the pages of a media entity.”

According to the student, the university has, in the past, pointed to the achievements of its law graduates as reassurance of its standards. “Those achievements are not in question. What is in question is whether current students many of whom are now preparing to apply to law school themselves can trust the institution to meet its own basic administrative obligations. On the evidence of the past year, that trust has not been earned,” the letter ended.

 

 

---

• riminal Law I and II grades, UG’s Chancellor Sir Ronald Sanders, University of Guyana (UG)

---