I refer to an article by Clarence O. Perry for his article regarding the need to inject greater resources, both human and financial to the University of Guyana. (Kaieteur News, September 9, 2010)
I agree with him when he said that the University of Guyana, as the leading teaching and research institution could play a much greater role in shaping and influencing national policies and programmes. I am aware of the fact that the University of Guyana had established some years ago a Research and Consultancy arm aimed at proving technical and consultancy services to the Government and other donor agencies. The aim was to take advantage of the numerous consultancies required by funding agencies as pre-requisites for funding, both with respect to grants and loans provided to the government.
For some reason best known to the University, not much progress was made in this regard. The Research arm of the University never really took off. The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) which was supposed to generate research on issues of national importance is not doing enough and whatever research is done seems not to be known outside the confines of the University community. There are hardly any research publications as was done in past years.
Where I disagree completely with Dr. Perry was when he asserted that the University of Guyana was not properly conceptualized even though he gave credit for its establishment to the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan, whose brainchild it was to set up a University for the Guyanese people as part of his decolonization process.
The fact is that the University has today grown in stature and is much more endowed financially than at anytime since its establishment in the early 1960’s. It is true that the University experienced some lean times under the previous administration when for quite a number of years in a row it was denied any capital funding. This resulted in infrastructural deterioration and an overall decline in the quality of offerings by the University,
Since the assumption to office of the PPP/C administration, there has been a significant increase in governmental subvention to the University which moved from a paltry $150M in 1992 to over $1.5B today. There is also the creation of the Berbice Campus of the University which allowed for greater democratisation of tertiary education.
Today, thanks to the University of Guyana, most of the public and private entities are manned by graduates of the institution and they are performing as well as any from any other overseas University, contrary to what Dr. Perry may make of them.