UG to serve as national ‘think tank’ – Minister Dr Roopnaraine says institution will undergo major o

Guyana Chronicle June 1, 2015

THE University of Guyana (UG), Guyana’s premier tertiary education institution is expected to be transformed into a world-class institution of learning, geared to meet the needs of the country and to serve as a think tank.

For years, development of the national university has been stymied by inadequate funding, but with the change in administration following the recent Regional and General Elections, new Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine said this trend will be reversed. Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Dr Roopnaraine, a world-class professor of comparative literature, said to fix the university the new Government first has to fund it adequately. And importantly, the university will have to be positioned to meet the needs of Guyana in the 21st century. UG is beset by a host of challenges: these include poor infrastructure, many unaccredited programmes; and inadequate attention to research and development. This is coupled with the fact that even though science and technology have been touted as key drivers of development in the 21st century, the number of students in the Faculty of Social Sciences more than doubles the amount in the faculties of Natural Science and Technology combined.

The University of Guyana is expected to be transformed into a world-class institution of higher learning, Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine says

With hopes being high of Guyana striking oil in commercial quantity, there is also need for a programme to be in place to train locals to man the new industry, rather than Guyana relying heavily on outsourcing skilled labour. Under his watch, Dr Roopnaaine said the infrastructure of UG will be upgraded, greater attention will be paid to quality of teaching, the relevance of syllabuses, among others, to ensure that programmes are aligned to address priority areas of the country, and the university attains the height the APNU+AFC Government envisions. Begin at the beginning A former lecturer and Council member of UG, the minister said work will begin at the beginning to address the shortcomings of the university, first through adequate funding. But he noted that this is not a panacea for the problems. “The first plan for UG is to give it money to survive. The University of Guyana has been on life support for the longest while and we have to ensure that we inject into the university, the funds that it needs to function. “At the moment, the funding of the university is inadequate. We are not a rich country, we have to be very careful of how we are spending our money,

Dr Rupert Roopnaraine says emphasis will be placed on ensuring UG graduates are of the quality the country needs, and can function in any part of the world

we have to prioritise our spending, and the University of Guyana is a high priority. “To fix it, we need to fund it. It is not the single answer but part of the necessary answer. If the university is starved of the money it needs, all kinds of defects arise… I think it is quite possible over the next few years the University of Guyana can be transformed into a world-class institution,” Dr Roopnaraine said, noting that UG is dear to his heart. He said in order to raise the standard of the university,it will be necessary to compete for staff internationally. On that score, the minister said salaries for lecturers will have to be looked at, since it is highly unlikely that highly qualified persons will come to teach in Guyana when they earn about five times more where they currently work. “We have to look at what we are paying our lecturers and we have to be prepared to compete with other international institutions, so that we can attract to Guyana the kind of quality of persons that we need,” the minister said. But Dr Roopnaraine, who gained his undergraduate Degree in Languages at the University of Cambridge and went on to do his PhD in comparative literature at Cornell, was quick to acknowledge that UG does have some lecturers who could hold their own at the top universities in the world. He however said the university needs more lecturers with PhDs, and commended it for moving away from having lecturers with first degrees. “We don’t want people teaching at the university with anything less than a doctorate. We have people teaching at the university, some with masters, we have virtually moved away from people who have a first degree. It is a gradual process. I believe that we are getting to the point where we have the quality staff at the university that we are going to need. Every encouragement will be made to encourage those with masters to do their doctorates,” the minister said. UG currently provides scholarships for lecturers to further their studies, and has been working with other universities in this regard.

Highly-motivated Notwithstanding the university being under-funded, Dr Roopnaraine said the core teaching staff of UG remain highly-motivated. Lauding their patriotism, the minister noted that these highly qualified persons could have easily chosen greener pastures, but their remaining here is a tribute to their dedication to Guyana. “We have to take advantage of that and build on what we have so that we can get the University of Guyana to be on par with the best educational institutions in the Region and farther afield,” he said. While raising the quality of teaching staff at UG is a priority, Dr Roopnaraine expressed dismay at the quality of students entering the university. “When you think about the University of Guyana, you have to think about what goes in, if what goes in is not up to the level dealing with university education, what do you expect will come out?” he asked, noting that emphasis will be placed on ensuring that graduates of the top institution of learning are of the quality the country needs, and can function in any part of the world. Dr Roopnaraine noted too that he is no stranger to complaints from employers, many of whom say the quality of UG graduates has not been able to measure up to their expectations. But, he said, the fact of the matter is that while he is sympathetic to these employers, they have a role to play in helping to build the university to produce the quality of graduates they want to see. “We need to ask the private sector to play their part in ensuring that the quality of graduates that they say they want, let them help us to produce these graduates. “Let them help to fund the university, let them give scholarships to students, they are many things that they can do; they have a great role to play. “We are not going to move this country forward in any dimension of work unless we get the fullest participation for all stakeholders,” he said. Relinquish political bias Dr Roopnaraine noted too that one of the problems affecting Guyana is persons being unable to relinquish their deep political biases, pointing out that as minister he is more than willing to work with the PPP/C to make UG a world-class institution. “We have to get out of the mindset of deep partisan politics, we have to get out of that mindset; if we don’t, we are never going to be able to mobilise, to harness the talents, skills and energy we need,” he said as he acknowledged efforts by the PPP/C Government to improve the university. He added: “We should have the university as a think tank, we should have the quality of persons at the university who can provide the kind of intellectual leadership in society, the scientific reach in society that we need. “We have the capacity to generate what we call a think tank, providing the intellectual power to help the government and society. That’s not beyond us;it is what we have to aim at.”