At GM&SA luncheon…
INTERIM Vice-Chancellor of University of Guyana (UG), Professor Lawrence Carrington has said the willingness of the business sector to sponsor research and finance development work are the most important ways to develop the institution to serve its needs.

He elaborated on the position at a recent Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association (GM&SA) luncheon, attended also by several prominent Private Sector officials, in Regency Suites Hotel, Hadfield Street, Georgetown.

Mr. Carrington said: “The resultant interaction between university and work enterprise can propel the institution into lines of research that feed back into its teaching and enrich the experience of students and faculty even beyond those who are directly concerned with the research project.

It would certainly be more economical for an enterprise to finance the equipment and work time for a university department to conduct work on a specific question, rather than to build and equip its own laboratory for what could easily be a one shot usage,” he contended.

Carrington said the initiative, by any means, does not reside on one side of the relationship and pointed out that he deliberately chose to highlight the initiation from the business sector, so as to give it an instrument to lever institutional change in practical, rather than rhetoric ways.

If your perception of the University of Guyana needs to apprise and take into account the direction of developmental movement of this society, review the emphasis of its curriculum and capacity to achieve a closer fit between programmes and qualifications on the one hand and the demand for professionals and relevant research on the other, then I agree,” he stated.

UPHILL TASK
But Carrington said UG faces an uphill task and replenishing the stock of educated citizens is an ongoing problem, given the fact that graduates leave Guyana in a frightening large proportion, even before the ink dries on their certificates.

He acknowledged that stemming the flow is a complex matter which cannot be addressed unilaterally by the university, the business community or any single sector in the country.

Describing the circumstances as a chicken and egg situation, Carrington posited that graduates will stay at home only when living conditions improve and they can find lucrative employment.

However, he said they must stay at home if those very conditions are to improve to their liking.

The whetting of their appetite to work here is a very real possibility for the business community to undertake, Carrington challenged.

It is not uncommon for private sector organisations to express the view that university graduates are not work-ready. I would bet that this complaint is voiced here in Guyana, although everyone has politely avoided saying it to me since I got here. The complaint is not specific to Guyana. It is a very widespread criticism of the products of universities,” he agreed.

The veteran educator said, while, in some countries, businessmen argue that graduates of polytechnic institutes and technical schools are more work-ready than university graduates, the correctness of this view depends heavily on the kind of work that is expected and no rule of thumb will stand up to scrutiny for very long.

MORE DIRECTLY
He said it is in the interest of a university like UG to hone its output in directions that can be more directly of service to the productive sectors.

In that context, Carrington said the readiness and fitness of graduates for the working world can be enhanced through partnerships between UG and the people who employ them.

He added, though, that the working partnerships have to go beyond the elementary stage of casual attachment of the student as an observer.

They must move to real engagement of students as responsible participants in the work of our productive sector and the feeding of our curriculum with elements that are part of the reality of the business sector’s activities.

For example, the summer job type employment that many enterprises offer in fulfillment of their social benefaction can be converted into rigorous internships that are curriculum requirements,” Carrington suggested.

He said associated with such partnerships are some considerations of attitude which need to be addressed, for instance, employers may feel an employee who needs time off or a time adjustment to attend UG is a loss of productivity.

Still, Carrington urged employers to see this situation as an opportunity for enhancing the quality of their workforce and building bridges with the university to develop their enterprises.

What I would like to see is your company giving that ambitious student a grant to help him or her through the course,” he said.

Carrington said attention must be paid, too, to the evidence that there is a strong correlation between development and investment in higher education.

KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
According to him, related investments in higher education, in areas of research, science and technology, have propelled China, India, Singapore, Korea and Japan as leaders in the contemporary knowledge economy.

He charged the business community to lead this process by unstinting, structured investment in higher education, research and enquiry.

I consider that we have a golden opportunity, right now, to embark on a solid collaboration between the business sector and the University of Guyana. Your government is articulating a bold new direction for Guyana’s economy.

The low carbon economy initiative opens up the possibility for new enterprises and for expansion of existing business into high yield areas related to their current scope.

It also calls for significant and thorough research on how the details of the policy can be executed. There is profit lying within the propositions but that profit can only be fully realised if it is led and guided by new knowledge that research in a national university can provide,” he concluded.