The University of Guyana Berbice Campus (UGBC) has announced the winners of its 25th Anniversary Logo and Theme competition, a University of Guyana release stated yesterday.
The awards ceremony which was recently held, saw the various winners being presented certificates and prizes. The competition was open to students, staff and the general public and saw several creative and thought-provoking submissions being made in both categories.
The release explained that the University of Guyana which is now celebrating its 60th anniversary, established its Berbice campus in 2000. In 2025, the campus will celebrate its 25th anniversary and several signature events and activities are being planned to mark the milestone. These are scheduled to begin in 2024 and culminate with an international multidisciplinary conference to be held in 2025.
The winners in the Logo Competition were: 1st place – Sigmund Griffith, 2nd place – Nicolas Sagadaya, and 3rd place – Temi Anjola. The Theme Competition winners were: 1st place – Davindranauth Sewnauth, 2nd place, and in 3rd place, Alicia Henry-West.
Griffith, an alumnus from the UG Class of 2009 explained that his logo, which was declared the winning entry, celebrates UGBC’s 25th anniversary, encapsulating a sense of the university’s rich past and promising future. A gold ‘25’ is nestled in an open book, the gold representing the anniversary milestone, and the book symbolising knowledge and academia. The base is a green Victoria amazonica, a giant water lily, reflecting Guyana’s natural wealth and greenery, bordered by two quills, underlying intellectual pursuits. The logo is further enhanc-ed by the encompassing words “University of Guyana Berbice Campus” and rounding the emblem on the occasion. This design, he said, merges tradition with innovation, and epitomises UGBC’s commitment to educational excellence and community engagement.
Meanwhile, Sewnauth, whose theme, “Igniting Minds, Inspiring Futures: Celebrating 25 Years of Excellence,” copped first prize, explained that it represents a “momentous milestone in the campus’ history, encapsulating the transformative journey it has undertaken since the campus was established.” This theme, he said, serves as a powerful symbol of the campus’ dedication to igniting the flames of curiosity within students, inspiring them to embark on a lifelong pursuit of knowledge and personal growth. “It reflects the campus’ unwavering commitment to academic excellence, fostering an environment that embraces diversity, inclusivity, and intellectual exploration. Through this theme, UGBC invites its community to unite in a joyous celebration, acknowledging achievements and collectively envisioning a future brimming with boundless possibilities for all.”
At the awards ceremony, the Anniversary Committee, in observance of the campus’ 23rd anniversary, hosted a cake-cutting activity to mark the occasion. The cutting of the cake was done by Rajkumar Sookraj, an alumni from the first batch of students from the year 2000 and currently a lecturer within the Division of Education and Humanities, and Melisande Fraser, currently serving as Academic Advisor at the campus. Fraser has been an employee when the campus was first established.
Director of the UGBC, Professor Gomathinayagam Subramanian, in his remarks at the ceremony, said that the UGBC is very pleased to have hosted the competition and thanked all those who participated, noting that the entries were all very creative and inspiring. He urged those who participated in the competition to keep on exploring their creative abilities.
The Chair of the UGBC 25th Anniversary Committee, Somattie Sayrange, who presented a synopsis on the competition, spoke of the upcoming events and activities that will be hosted by the campus to mark its 25th anniversary. She disclosed that these activities and events will be publicised soon and expressed the hope for widespread support and participation of all stakeholders.
The judges for the Logo Competition were: Philbert Gajadhar, Lecturer, Department of Language and Cultural Studies; Nelsonia Budhram, Lec-turer, Centre for Commu-nication Studies; and Camanie Khedaroo, Head of the Division of Educa-tion and Humanities, UGBC. The judges for the Theme Competition were: Dr Dennis Gill, lecturer in the faculty of Education and Humanities; Dr Angelina Autar, lecturer within the faculty of Social Sciences; and Alim Hosein, lecturer within the Department of Language and Cultural Studies.
According to the release, ever since its establishment over 23 years ago, the campus has made tremendous strides in many areas of its programme and service delivery and research to meet the growing demand for specialised skills and knowledge in various areas of national development. From offering only two-year undergraduate certificate programmes when it was first set up, the UGBC has grown exponentially over the years and is now offering a suite of programmes at the certificate and first degree levels, and will soon offer masters degrees. It informed that the six divisions offering these programmes are; the Division of Natural Sciences, Division of Agri-culture and Forestry, Division of Education and Humanities, Division of Social Sciences, School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI) and College of Medical Sciences.
And Director, Professor Subramanian, during a recent interview with the UG’s Public Relations Department noted that the support received from the private sector over the years has also allowed the university to do much more for its students and the community as a whole. He named the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), National Agricul-tural Research and Exten-sion Institute (NAREI), Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Training Centre, and the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), as some of the entities who have all partnered with UGBC over the years to provide resources – both technical and material – to allow both students and staff to benefit from a hands-on approach to learning.
The Director further noted that the UGBC is in the process of strengthening its research capabilities with several staff members currently engaged in various research projects. Further, with the addition of the state-of-the-art soil and plant testing laboratory at the Johns’ Science Centre, an annex of the UGBC, in 2019, the scope for research in the areas of Natural Sciences and Agriculture is “vast”, the release added.
