Dear Editor,
A letter by a faculty member of the Turkeyen Campus of the University of Guyana was published in Thursday’s editions of the daily newspapers. Kaieteur News had the most encouraging headline ‘The prospects to study English as a major at Tain Campus look good’ which I am sure brought a sigh of relief along with it, to prospective applicants for the 2010-2011 academic year. I don’t know how much hope the letter brings to persons like me, someone who has nearly completed his first year majoring in Social Studies at the Tain Campus, and would like to switch majors.
But in a recent discussion with the Director of the Tain Campus, Professor Samad, I learnt that the zeal and desire to bring back certain “lost” programmes offered by the university’s Annex had always been there. This was expressed both in the regular discussions with the main campus and also in a multi- page document, prepared by the professor; a strategic action plan, as he calls it.
Maybe, though, persons need to become aware of the high benefits and implications of pursuing studies in English. Study in this area can prove very beneficial to persons like our teachers in the system.
No society should have a dominance of a particular calibre of university graduates over another. Today, we seem to be having a glut for Public Management. Can anyone tell me how many managerial positions would be filled at the end of their studies? Effective language skills can be used in virtually any and every vocation that exists today.
That said, it is therefore my hope that some closure can be had on this exciting debate over the past couple of weeks. It is my fervent wish that Turkeyen considers bringing much more courses to the Berbice campus in the coming years, for example, medical, business, and journalism programmes.
There would always be challenges in every institution even as it tries its utmost to serve those who are a part of it. It is how we circumvent these difficulties and deliver that we can truly show how committed and effective we are—in this case the University of Guyana—to positively impacting our tertiary education system, and thus produce a much refined quality of graduates, in keeping with the ever rising international standards and demanding job- market.
Yours faithfully,
Leon J Suseran
