A collaborative initiative between the University of Guyana and the Private Sector Commission (PSC) designed to better position the University to contribute to enhancing the human resource and technical capacities of the local corporate community could see the introduction of a new three-year degree programme in Agri Business at Turkeyen as early as the 2010/2011 academic year according to a senior PSC official who is one of the prime movers behind the collaborative effort.
PSC Vice-Chairman and President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMA) Ramesh Dookhoo told Stabroek Business earlier this week that the private sector had accepted a proposal made by the University that it offer the degree programme in Agri Business the curriculum for which had already been fashioned.
Dookhoo said that the degree in Agri Business was intended to equip agricultural scientists with a knowledge-based flexibility that could shape their careers in a manner that enables them both to manage their own businesses ventures and to pursue employment opportunities in the private sector.
Dookhoo told Stabroek Business that the proposal to launch an Agri Business degree at the University of Guyana had coincided with what he described as “a more studied private sector interest in the agricultural sector both as an investment opportunity and as an initiative designed to boost local food security. He said that private sector officials involved in the collaborative initiative with the University had recommended that courses in Agro Processing and Product Standards be included in the new degree programme.
And according to Dookhoo the ongoing interaction between the University and the private sector had also addressed the possibility of specialised courses in Internal Auditing and Human Resource Manage-ment, among others, being offered by the University in the period ahead.
The thrust to enhance the relationship between the University and the private sector coincides with the appointment earlier this year of Professor Lawrence Carrington as Vice-Chancellor of UG. At a GMSA luncheon earlier last month Carrington said that he believed the University and the private sector could provide useful mutual support for each other’s objectives.
Collaboration between the University and the private sector is being ‘pushed’ by a sub-committee chaired by Dr. Michael Scott and which includes other academics and private sector officials.
Asked whether plans to introduce the new degree programme were not likely to further stretch the limited resources of the University, Dookhoo said that the programme will embrace several courses already being offered at the University and that it has already been agreed that qualified and experienced private sector officials in various fields would offer their services as guest lecturers in support of the programme. He said that the idea of using people who were actually involved in business was an excellent one since it offered the opportunity for students “to benefit directly from the everyday experiences of private sector functionaries, including people who actually run businesses.”
