The University of Guyana (UG) and almost a dozen post-secondary education partners yesterday signed an agreement for the formation of the Higher Education Consortium on Engineering and Mining (HECEM), which is intended to guide education and professional development training for Guyana’s energy and extractive industries, including the oil and gas sector.
The HECEM is expected to function as a body that would not only seek to develop new curricula and joint programmes to address the national development needs in the areas of engineering, oil and gas and mining, but also to serve as a centre for harmonising the efforts and the sharing of resources among member institutions to achieve their objectives.
Additionally, the consortium will be tasked with fostering and promoting academic collaboration aimed at supporting the pursuit of the Strategic National Agenda and the exploration of new matriculation criteria for programmes.
Those signing the agreement yesterday were UG, the Forestry Training Centre, the Essequibo Technical Institute, the Upper Corentyne Industrial Training Centre, the New Amsterdam Technical Institute, the Mahaicony Technical and Vocational Training Centre, the Critchlow Labour College, the Government Technical Institute, the Guyana Industrial Training Centre, the Guyana Mining School and Training Centre, the Linden Technical Institute, the Leonora Technical and Vocational Center, the Council for Technical and Vocational Education Training (CTVET) and the Ministry of Education.
Stabroek News understands that the HECEM will have two organs—the Executive Council, which will comprise Principals of member institutions and from where the Chairman of the group will be elected; and the Secretariat, which comprises one duly authorised representative of a member institution.
Meanwhile, UG Vice-Chancellor Professor Ivelaw Griffith, in brief remarks, said the signing of the agreement and the establishment of the HECEM is one of several initiatives taken in preparation for first oil and beyond.
He explained that the idea to establish the consortium was conceived during a visit by the President of the University of Trinidad and Tobago, which was facilitated by the University of Guyana.
“It is important that as we pursue those journeys of first oil and beyond, we build partnerships… and we are planning to have a manifestation of those partnerships in one big conference which we will host in January… We are conscious of moving beyond the first step and we are conscious of the importance of having actions along the way to supplement and reinforce those first steps in oil and gas,” Griffith said.
Representatives from member institutions who attended the signing of the agreement also expressed gratitude for an opportunity to be a part of the consortium, not only for the benefits of networking with other institutions but also as a means for capitalising on local content by preparing the local citizenry.
