WITHIN the first two years of opening its doors in Guyana, Texila American University (TAU) has recorded a promising start and now has great prospects for becoming a major tertiary institution here, while contributing significantly to the national coffers. In addition, it provides a splendid opportunity for Guyanese students wishing to pursue training in medical disciplines, to do so at significantly reduced costs, compared to foreign counterparts attending the same university.
Texila American University, annexed to the Critchlow Labour College, Woolford Avenue, Georgetown, is a medical school offering programmes in Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing at the Bachelor’s, Master’s and MD levels. It was established here in 2010 and launched its first programme (Dentistry) in 2011.

Accreditation
TAU is a fully registered university, accredited by the National Accreditation Council of Guyana.  Additionally, it receives its listing from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which enables its graduates to practise worldwide, including the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zeeland, said Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Saju Bhaskar, who recently briefed the media on progress made by the institution over the last two years, and the way forward.
Also present at the media briefing at the university campus last week were Manager, International Relations, Ashok Kumar; Manager, Student Affairs, Borris Lawson and Public Relations Manager, Liz Rehaman.
Bhaskar said the university has also received its International Medication Directory (IMD) which enables students from the United States of America and Australia to practise in Canada and the USA as physicians.
“We also have membership with organisations called the Global Alliance for Medical Education in Europe; the International Association for Dental Research, and accreditation for the Civil Association of Pharmaceutical Professors,” the CEO told the media.
Of interest, the TAU is also working out a partnership with the University of Florida, where students will do courses in pre-medicine here in Guyana and later move to the USA to continue their Bachelor’s Programme.

Dentistry
Texila American University launched its first medical programme – the Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) programmes, last September, and that programme is said to be doing well.   There are currently 75 students admitted to the programme, about two thirds of them being from foreign countries, including the USA, India, Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia, with more soon to come on board.
Bhaskar said TAU has also signed an agreement with the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation for trainees to do their internship there.  Partnerships entered into with other countries allow for students to do their clinical orientation at the end of training, in the USA, India and the Phillipines, he said.

Nursing Programme
Another significant move by TAU is the introduction of its second programme – the Nursing Programme here, scheduled for next September.  The Nursing programme is intended to be a dual degree programme, to be done in collaboration with the University of West of England (UWE) – Bristol.  Top officials of UWE recently visited the TAU’s campus facility, for the purpose of making a formal review of the facilities and learning resources for the upcoming programme, to be conducted jointly by the two.
The visiting officials, Professor Helen Langton, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean and Professor Steven Neill, Deputy Dean of the UWE (Faculty of Health Sciences) visited last February, and are reported as having given the nod for the collaboration.
Operations Manager, Ashok Kumar, outlined that the agenda for the visit included the review of curriculum; classrooms; library; nursing skills; and laboratories and other learning resources available at TAU, adding that the outcome of the visit of the UWE officials was positive.

Ways in which he said the collaboration can benefit the Nursing students of TAU include:
•    Adaptation of the standardised curriculum of UWE;
•    Option to choose pathway programmes, enabling the student to do the first part of the programme in Guyana, and the second part in the United Kingdom; and
•    Getting the professional expertise of UWE to raise the standards followed during the course of the nursing education at TAU.

A very reputable university, located in Bristol, UWE has about 35,000 students on campus, and has consistently been one of Britain’s leading universities for quality in teaching, with a strong research tradition and history, ideally responding to the needs of TAU. Said Kumar, “We are looking at bringing out a premier nursing programme with good curriculum when it comes to training and all the expertise will be brought out by them.”
The dual degree programme will see nurses doing their first two years of training in Guyana and the final two years in the United Kingdom. On graduating, they will be given a licence to practice in the United Kingdom as well.

Projections
With a goal of increasing their student population to 3,000 by the end of the first five years, the International Operations Manager expressed optimism that the upcoming collaborative nursing programme will be one of the university’s key programmes, with a mandate of moving towards TAU’s goal of attracting a good number of students from neighbouring countries.
Said Kumar: “TAU is working towards its goal of playing a major role in attracting international students to Guyana – a country which has all the required resources to become the educational hub of the Caribbean and South American region.”  In an effort to realize their target of reaching 3,000 within the first five years, TAU is moving towards acquiring land to set up their own campus facility to accommodate greater numbers.
To this end, Chief Executive Officer, Saju Bhaskar, who made an assessment of  student intake at this time and  projections for the future, expressed confidence that TAU is poised to make a significant contribution to the national coffer.
“Our goal is to bring 3,000 students on campus, and what has been achieved in the short span, makes it very clear that it will be very possible and our targets are very realistic,” the CEO said.
He said that, with each international student spending about US$10,000 in the economy, 100 students will bring $10M each year. “And given 3,000 students, it means that each year our university will be contributing US$30,000 into the Guyanese economy.
Bhaskar outlined that many countries of the world, particularly the developed countries, rely very much on the export of education which is a very important foreign exchange earner for such countries.
Asked what influenced Texila’s decision to choose Guyana above other countries of the Caribbean, the CEO said Guyana has the distinctive advantage of being:

* An English-speaking country
* a country with a low cost of living
* and bereft of any climatic threats such as hurricanes and volcanoes