By: Akola Thompson

CURRENTLY, there is the ever-growing belief that the ideal of academic excellence and opportunities belongs only to the elites, something which they jealously guard from poorer folks.

While some of this may be true, excellence is hard work, and not a birthright. Excellence is spending hours grunting over course materials, trying to understand rather than have someone hand you the answers.

Recently, the University of Guyana’s Academic Board removed the number of sittings at CSEC for entry into the institution.

UG registrar Dr. Nigel Gravesande said that the move was made because of the belief that “access to tertiary education must always be seen as a fundamental right, and not (as) a privilege.”

When I first heard of the university’s decision, Education Minister Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine’s statement that he would consider himself a failure if, at the end of five years, UG is “not a thriving university that can meet international standards” came to mind.

While I know Dr Roopnaraine is not directly involved in every going-on at the university, with this recent revelation, I think he might as well accept defeat with not even a year into his promise.
We are clearly moving further away from achieving the goal of international standards.

If anything, UG should be looking to incorporate more rigid admissions’ requirements, given that the current prerequisites are already lax. Entry requirements are there for a reason, particularly to ensure applicants are not accepted into programmes they are not prepared for. Therefore, in their attempt to provide students on their tenth sitting at CSEC their fundamental right to a university education, they are lowering the already low standards of the university, whose accreditation is spotty in most cases and non-existent in some.

Frankly, there are at the moment more important matters to be dealt with than admission requirements. Admissions, I was made aware, are higher than they have been in years. Despite raising of the tuitions, for sustainable improvements yet to materialize, admissions have continued to rise while our standards have continued to drop, and accreditations are being lost.

The university has reached a stage at which one can just decide that one wants to be a student and that’s that. Anyone familiar with the UG application process knows that admission solely depends on grades, and for some programmes, even good grades cannot get them in because of the overwhelming amount of students already applying. So, definitely, UG cannot argue that the move was to get more students into college.

To even be considered to attend other colleges which meet up to international standards, one would have to (1) have good grades, (2) write an admission letter and essay detailing why one is worthy of attending the institution (3) have recommendations, and maybe even go through an interview process.

Upon acceptance, if a student cannot reasonably keep up with a course, that student is either kicked out or put on probation. I have never heard of such an instance at UG. Its sole purpose seems to be, despite academic achievement, to keep students enrolled so as to keep the influx of monetary gains.

As a second-year university student, I do not believe that this is the way to go. With UG’s already slack admissions’ standards, I share classrooms with students who are not up to par. As a result, lectures are not completed as fast as they should be, submission dates are constantly being pushed back, and the fail grades for each course are high. Someone made the claim that the move was one seeking inclusion of those who might not have been given a fair chance due to economic status. This opinion, I believe, is flawed, as this recent step by the university, in my opinion, will not help those who are economically or academically challenged.

Instead, they will spend money on a degree that is not respected or accepted by employers here or overseas. Or, they will find themselves paying off student loans with the clerical job they might be lucky to find upon graduation, with their framed certificate hanging on the wall above their heads. I know that students do not learn at the same pace, and schools – especially universities — tend to have ‘one size fits all’ courses, but this is not the way to go. The university does not need slacker admission standards; what it needs are a complete revamping, and new and innovative courses aimed at students who, like me, would rather write novels than read them, and create rather than analyse.

We cannot be excellent in all areas, we all need a little mediocrity in our lives; just not in supposedly academic institutions hoping to become internationally recognised.