THE government provides millions of dollars to the University of Guyana(UG) each year to cover the expenses of both the Turkeyen and Berbice campuses.

In addition to this, government-funded student loans are provided to students of the university, indiscriminant of gender, race or political affiliation. These loans are non-revolving; this means that they are hardly ever repaid and that the burden of this falls on the government’s shoulders.

The University of Guyana is today the only tertiary level educational institution in Guyana, but it functions more in the capacity of an advanced high school.

Students’ interests are taken for granted, lecturers are under-qualified, and the academic standards of the university are infringed upon [through] the outdated materials being used to teach students.

University students who are supposed to be the cream of the crop of Guyana’s youth are unable to master basic skills of writing English and understanding current affairs and the implications of same on their lives and livelihoods.

UG has taken no structured, quality assurance measures to improve its situation. While the university has appointed a quality assurance officer, that person has no quality assurance background, and basic classroom quality assurance mechanisms such as vetting of course outlines and current, up-to-date reading materials, are not being applied.

We have to make the university a better place for our children. Something has to be done. UG cannot remain the ‘glorified high school’ that it currently is.