The issue of granting greater autonomy to the University of Guyana’s Berbice campus is nothing new, since the institution’s council had spoken at length about this matter since 2005 and had even appointed three persons to a sub-committee in this regard.

This is according to a source close to the university who told the Guyana Chronicle that greater autonomy for the campus was not achieved due to great resistance by senior officials at the Turkeyen Campus.
This revelation comes in the wake of the publication of the Kaieteur News article dated July 29, 2013, and headlined “UG Berbice campus in financial meltdown – Samad…blames Turkeyen’s “dictatorship.”

In the article, Director of the Berbice campus, Professor Daizal Samad called for full autonomy from the Turkeyen Campus, so that Berbice (Region Six- East Berbice/Corentyne) can have its own University.
“You call it University of Berbice in Guyana or the Cheddi Jagan University, which was Cheddi’s dream in the first place – not UG! “UGBC is the most successful organization in Berbice; nobody can deny it, and certainly one of the most successful organizations in Guyana,” he is quoted in the article as saying.
A 2005 subcommittee report on the Berbice campus was presented to the council after the University’s Council established this committee to examine the operations of the Berbice Campus, with a view to granting greater autonomy for its operation.
Additionally, the subcommittee took into consideration previous discussions, reports and varying views expressed on the matter, most of which veered towards autonomy for the Berbice Campus.
“We therefore believe that this sub-committee should be an ongoing one and should be in constant contact with the Berbice management committee for review with a view to improving and giving greater autonomy to the Berbice Operation,” the report had stated.
In the report, members of the subcommittee outlined areas of change to the Berbice campus based on discussions in the past and discussions with the Berbice Director at that time.
The areas of the report were the management committee of the campus, staffing, student intake, accounting matters, student curriculum and expenditure and the convocation exercise.
The report stated that the management committee of the Berbice campus should be empowered to administer the affairs of the campus and prepare a monthly report for submission to the council.
“The management committee should be empowered to advertise, shortlist and recommend to the council, the appointment of any staff, both on the UA and UB scales,” the report added.
The report also stated that the structure of the Berbice campus should be used as the basis for seeking fulltime staff and the management committee should strive as far as is practicable to have all their staff appointed from or located in the Berbice area.
“This is to ensure cost effectiveness and at the same time ensure that the burden is not placed upon Turkeyen staff having to travel the distance to conduct teaching assignments at that location,” the report explained.
The subcommittee in their report also recommended that for the employment of any new personnel, the prior approval of the council must be sought and obtained.
With regard to student intake, the report stated that the arrangement for students at the Berbice Campus to be processed at Turkeyen leaves much to be desired and creates serious bottlenecks.
“We believe that the Berbice campus should advertise for students for various programmes prior to the commencement of the academic year and the selection process should be on the basis of the criteria set by the Turkeyen campus,” the subcommittee members stated in the report.
Additionally, the report recommended that the records of the students be kept at the Berbice campus and the continuing students should have their records transferred to the Berbice campus.
In terms of accounting matters, the report stated that the budgetary allocation for the Berbice Campus should be separate and form a distinct basis of its operation.
“The revenue earned from student fees at that operation as well as other income should be allocated to the campus and all payments of expenditure should be made based on monthly releases by the bursar,” the report further stated.
According to the subcommittee report, the curriculum of the Berbice Campus should be based along the criteria set by the Turkeyen operation and the surrogate “external examiners role by Turkeyen should be discontinued and replaced by a body of local academics, which are not a part of the university system.”
However, in terms of the convocation exercise, the subcommittee members recommended that they did not see any need to disrupt the present arrangement.