The tenure of University of Guyana (UG) Vice Chancellor Lawrence Carrington ends in April and in the wake of a report in which he expressed grave concern over the dire financial situation at UG and pointed to the lack of support from government, questions are being raised as to whether he will remain.
University of Guyana sources say Carrington is frustrated and is receiving the support of many academics at the campus. There are also reports that a group of individuals is preparing a resolution to be tabled before the academic board to shut down the campus.
Professor Carrington has expressed grave concern over the dire financial situation at the institution in a report which he prepared last month, and the money problems aside he frankly assessed the situation at the institution and shared how difficult things have been.
“This circumstance is particularly distressing because when I assumed my appointment as Vice-Chancellor, indications were (at levels of the government to which I had access) that the government would seek to increase its support once the university had an approved strategic plan and had taken steps to deal with quality assurance issues.” He also argued that Guyana cannot afford to continue neglecting the needs of its university.
Since Carrington’s report went public, Stabroek News has unsuccessfully sought a comment from Education Minister Shaik Baksh on the issue. Telephone calls to the minister’s office have not been returned. Similar efforts to contact UG Pro-Chancellor Dr Prem Misir have also proved futile.
But while no word has been forthcoming from officials, students at the Turkeyen campus have expressed serious concerns over the financial situation, in addition to the lack of support for the university. Sherod Duncan, a former University of Guyana Student Society (UGSS) president told this newspaper he fully supports a shut-down of the campus until the issues raised by Carrington are adequately addressed.
Duncan spoke of a lack of support for the university from the administration and the private sector; he said the latter has not showed any real interest in the development of the institution. “The whole issue of neglect is understood by academics and students alike, but while government has shown that it does not care the private sector has also not come onboard in any tangible way,” Duncan said, noting that during his term as UGSS president he had reached out to corporate Guyana on the issue.
In fact, Duncan had publicly criticized the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) for offering only three scholarships to students one academic year, arguing that the company could have easily increased its support to the university by offering additional scholarships. In his interview, he again decried the lack of support from major companies.
The university is struggling financially and has over the years failed to improve its infrastructure and standards as a result, Duncan said. He said the subvention this year is no different from the inadequate allocations from previous years, adding that funding reflects on the quality of education offered.
Since UG could shut down due to a lack of water as was recently the case, Duncan said the institution can shut down because of its financial situation. “This is reason enough and I have said it to the new UGSS body,” he added. According to Duncan, the situation continues to deteriorate and no serious attempt is being made by government to increase the annual subvention.
Secretary of UGSS Ganesh Mahipaul said the body has already informed the academic board that it is willing to support any move to shut down the campus. He said the financial crisis at the campus is “a serious one”, adding “UG has no money”.
Mahipaul said the record would show the campus has been borrowing money from the loan agency to get by and he stressed that this cannot continue. “This is the highest learning institution in the country and look what is happening… government continues to underfund UG and the consequences are plain for all to see, look at the quality of the education we get.”
He said the university is crumbling and questioned whether politics is the main reason. However, he said UG is currently operating on rules which were drafted by the present government. According to him, the situation is disturbing to everyone who has an interest including students and academics.
Further, he said the private sector also has to share some of the blame for what is happening because “it has failed to offer this university any kind of support”. He argued that government support is not enough and that companies have to “step up” and give more to the university. “If you look around the institution UG is 25 years behind the times and universities all across the globe which is why this situation is even more distressing,” he added.
Carrington, in his report, said the university’s continuing deficit and its impact on its cash flow is sufficient basis for an increase in the 2011 subvention; the university is now requesting that an additional sum of $250 million be the minimum consideration by the Finance Ministry.
For the last three years, he said the university’s financial statements have shown an operational deficit in excess of $150 million for each year- the Student Loan Agency was requested to advance $200 million in each of those years, in order to pay the deficit. Still, he observed that this has not been a solution to the campus’ deficit operations.
UG’s audited statement as at July 31, 2010 showed an overall net deficit of $255,495,381 and an overall bank balance of $29,360,300. Apart from the general rise in price for goods, services and salaries, the subventions granted from 2005-2009 were insufficient to sustain the across-the-board salary increases approved in the previous year, he noted.
