-says crumbling infrastructure also to be addressed
New University of Guyana (UG) Vice-Chancellor Pro-fessor Lawrence Carrington says the institution needs an overhaul of its academic structure and administrative framework, in order for it to be fully compatible with contemporary patterns of administration.
Two months after his appointment, Professor Carrington, a Trinidadian, has also identified the need for the university to be involved in influencing the quality of secondary school graduates, many of whom seek admission into its programmes.
Many criticisms have been levelled against the university which is in an ongoing struggle to recruit and retain qualified lecturers as well as to have facilities comparable with those of its sister universities in the Caribbean.
Prof Carrington, who brings a wealth of experience to UG, having had a distinguished career as a professor, researcher and administrator, told reporters at an introductory press conference yesterday that the goal is to “embed in the institution the self-monitoring that will give it flexibility to adjust as it changes Guyana in collaboration with the state and civil society”.
He pointed out that changes in the 46-year-old governance system were vital to its relevance.
“Creating a strong university also means having an effective organizational structure and system of governance. The governance system of the University of Guyana has not changed significantly since it was founded 46 years ago. It needs to be changed,” he declared.
Acknowledging that scarcity has been a fact of life in Guyana, Prof Carrington noted that the university has shared in the national sacrifices, but added that the developmental path of Guyana requires a strong university that is able to recruit and retain the best staff in a competitive world and regional environment.
In his opening statement too the new vice-chancellor said the university is anxious to establish systems of quality assurance that would enhance its standards, increase its international standing and make its graduates more valuable. To this end, he pointed out that collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI) would be tapped into and members of its quality assurance units would be working with UG to help it improve that aspect.
The UWI collaboration, he said, also extends to accreditation of programmes and departments, attention to curriculum content and reform, teaching methodologies and administrative practices. A joint working group will maintain contact and exploit the potential of both universities.
Meanwhile, he pointed out that the university’s infrastructure, buildings and physical facilities need extensive repair and refurbishing.
This aspect, he said, has already received a boost following a meeting he had with President Bharrat Jagdeo, who has since detailed an engineer to conduct a building survey along with a staff member of the university’s faculty of technology. They will work together and advise on the work to be done, resources needed and a mechanism to achieve this.
Prof Carrington also revealed that the institution’s equipment needed upgrading to standards appropriate for teaching and research at the levels required for national development and academic respectability. This, he said, would be undertaken in a systematic manner and actions would be related to quality assurance initiatives.
Resources
Previous administrators of the university as well as staff have over the years lamented the lack of resources for it to effectively execute some of its functions. Asked whether the provision of services would be contemplated under his administration, to help UG foot some of its own expenses, Prof Carrington said there was always good reason to have within a university, the kind of mechanisms to allow what persons call “commercial ventures”. He added that this also meant selling services in the form of consultancies, technical advice and paid partnerships to achieve particular goals.
He said he believed there was great room for such ventures adding, “the university has a lot of untapped areas of potential financial gain.” He said he believes his colleagues are interested in this.
However, he said his response was not unrelated to his observations for the change in operations at the university adding that this was needed in order to have the flexibility to put some resources into the generation of such activities. But he emphasized that these were not normal times and financial investments were subject to more scrutiny than in the past.
As regards UG attracting and retaining experienced and qualified lecturers, he pointed out that the issue of terms and conditions of work as well as remuneration would have to be addressed, particularly since the university had to compete with other universities.
He emphasized that issues such as the extent to which there is personal satisfaction of lecturers would also have to be examined. He said this would have to be looked at in the longer term and a point of intervention determined. And he pointed out that it was not only a challenge for the University of Guyana as there was a high outward migration of qualified lecturers across the region.
Entry requirements
Many have argued that the university should raise its entry requirements in order to ensure a better quality of graduates able to perform in more practical settings. Asked about this, Prof Carrington said there was no intention to look at it as an isolated matter at this time. However, he emphasized that the university was concerned with the quality of the secondary school output since many of these students seek entry into the university. He said the university would look at some sort of intervention at the level of secondary schools.
Prof Carrington has met Education Minister Shaik Baksh as well as Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy and has received a commitment to the success of the institution from the former. With the latter he had a promising exchange on how the programmes offered at UG could benefit from collaboration with the health ministry.
The new vice-chancellor is also looking to increase the number of partnerships and encourage exchanges with other universities as well as more internships for students.
With regard to agriculture students he said the university was looking at the costing of field sites since this was an important element for these areas of study especially in the context of national development.
Collaboration with state agencies to help guide teaching in some instances is also something which will be explored under the new administration. (Heppilena Ferguson)