The new semester will bring many changes at the University of Guyana (UG) as Professor Ivelaw Griffith, its tenth vice chancellor, has unveiled his 12-point plan that is aimed at building a wider portfolio of resources for the university.
The plan ‘Twelve areas of engagement to help rebuild the University of Guyana’ under the theme ‘Dreaming Engagement, Doing Engagement’ offers members of the university and wider community an opportunity to participate in the transformation of the tertiary institution.
Chief among these areas is the opportunity to contribute to the VC fund for Strategic Initiatives. According to the VC this fund will underwrite undergraduate research, excellence lectures, a feasibility study for a proposed school of business and other research initiatives.
Speaking with reporters at his first press conference, the VC explained that the first activity to be funded will be an “etiquette dinner” which will allow student leaders from the university’s student society and other clubs to develop soft skills necessary for professional engagements.
He noted that a university is not only judged by the level of its teaching and learning, but by its research capabilities. In that vein, the research capabilities of not only lecturers and post-graduate students but also undergraduate students will be developed. This development will be achieved through a collaboration with the Council for Undergraduate Research.
According to the VC, the university has committed to sending a team of students and lecturers to the council’s 2016 conference, after which they will return to spearhead the development of a robust undergraduate research programme.
“We are setting stage to do innovative things,” Griffith declared.
He also spoke of celebrating some of the intellectual and academic giants of this nation through a distinguished lecture series.
The series is a first step towards creating endowed professorships to honour Professor Clive Thomas, Sister Noel Menezes and Dr Ulric Trotz whom the VC described as “intellectual giants who have given to University of Guyana, Guyana and the world.”
To this end, committees have been set up to organize these lectures even as the first permanent holder of the Walter Rodney Chair has been identified to begin his work in the new semester.
The other ten initiatives include a Friends of UG support group, a redesigned university website, a mobile app, monthly VC e-newsletter, a homecoming celebration, a competition to write a UG song, a volunteer register, a campus beautification campaign and continuous profiles of the achievements of UG graduates.
