INTERNET woes at the University of Guyana (UG) will soon be a thing of the past as the Ministry of Public Telecommunications aims to strengthen the Information and Communications Telecommunications (ICT) platform on campus.
At a simple ceremony at UG’s Turkeyen Campus on Wednesday, the two entities inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will result in better Internet access across campus and an inter-connection between the Tain, John and Turkeyen campuses
With routine complaints about poor Internet access on campus, Minister of Public Telecommunications,Cathy Hughes,said the goal of her Ministry is to better equip the university to provide broadband Internet access, which supports productivity and expansion.
“Our goal has been to better equip the university and to provide broadband Internet access. UG has struggled with the provision of reliable Internet access… so our focus is to ensure that as many locations at the university have wireless Internet access at a level that supports productivity and expansion,” she said.
This, according to the minister, will be supported by a wireless fibre-optic ring which the e-Government Unit of the Ministry has created, to connect the university onto the e-Government network.
“Our focus is also on ensuring that we are able to equip lecture theatres and hotspots across the campus,” she added.
Further, the minister revealed that her Ministry will soon be handing over a video conferencing facility which will allow lecturers and students to interact in real time with the other two campuses.
In addition to the signing of the MoU, the Public Telecommunications Ministry also handed over 20 laptops to the institution, for lecturers.

The minister explained that this was part of the Ministry’s vision of ensuring lecturers are better equipped.
“It is going to be an incredible time for learning. We want to make sure that we are investing as much as possible to deal with some of the challenges the university is facing. We want to bring the highest level of tertiary training that could be provided,” Minister Hughes said.
Meanwhile, e-Government Unit General Manager Francis Simmonds noted that there are systems in place to ensure the use of Internet on campus is strictly for work purposes.
He explained that firewalls have been created and if students decide to use the Internet services for purposes not intended, then they will be blocked from accessing certain materials online.
Offering brief comments at the signing of the MoU was UG Vice Chancellor, Professor Ivelaw Griffith, who noted that the agreement represents the end of a torturous long-standing frustration by a lot of students.
Cognisant of the fact that reliable Internet provision is one of the challenges at the university, Professor Griffith extended appreciation to the Public Telecommunication Ministry for its support in ensuing students have a comfortable and friendly learning environment.
He noted too that this is just the first step in a series of collaborations which will see the university benefitting from Government agencies and the private sector.