PRESIDENT of the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA), Dr. Patsy Francis asserted that the administration of the university must devise a plan which will see the restoration of the $450M student loan subvention thus offsetting the looming call for the increase in tuition. 

A disgruntled Francis, on Friday, was addressing cuts made to the loan subvention for University of Guyana students during the 2014 Budgetary Debates of the National Assembly by the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)/ Alliance for Change (AFC) combined opposition.

The UGSSA President also responded to remarks from the Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Jacob Opadeyi, who alluded to severe crisis being ensued at the tertiary institution if the decision taken by the Parliamentary Opposition to is not reversed.
According to her, the Union is not in agreement with increasing the student fees without “concomitant increases in quality”, she further urged the relevant stakeholders to address the “increase” in tuition and not be railroaded by the “semantics” of “adjustments”, which were brought on by said disapproval in the National Assembly.
Additionally, the UGSSA President was adamant that real consultation with students had not yet commenced, since such consultations cannot be conducted with a few select persons representing the interests of the students that will simply agree whilst not taking the interest of the students into consideration.
Francis ardently maintained that mechanism must be put in place through scholarships, bursaries and soft loans provided by commercial banks and the Private Sector who would be willing to invest in the development of the countrhby, she further added that all young people should be able to attend the University regardless of their economic status.
She further urged that the administration as well as the council of the University, to which the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi is an integral member ought to lobby the relevant Politicians to have provisions made for the University in the requisite supplementary funding to the Ministry of Finance’s Loan Agency to curtail the impasse that is looming, further calling for reasonable policies with a sense of “social conscience” to be put in place.
Francis keenly noted the proposals made by the Unions on the increase in tuition fees and has urged that mechanisms must be put in place to facilitate students who cannot afford the proposed tuition fees.
Vice-President of the UGSSA, Dr. Melissa Ifill recalled that the union underscored two years ago that G$127,000 cannot produce a quality education for any one student at the campus. She said that the union recognises that there is a realistic cost for tertiary education, however, systems such as those of the University of the West Indies are ample where the State and the student share in the payment of tuition rates.
Also, she said that there must similarly be mechanisms in place for those students who cannot afford to foot their end of the bill, further urging that the students, who remain the majority stakeholders, should articulate for the advancement of their interests.
The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)/Alliance for Change (AFC) combined parliamentary Opposition, in the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly during the 2014 budget debates, voted against funding for several Ministry of Finance programmes, including the $450M allocated to the University for student loans.
From the time of his inaugural address to the post of Vice-Chancellor of the premier tertiary institution, Opadeyi had noted that, in order to ensure the improvement in the quality of service provided by the institution, tuition increases are imminent.
Former UG PRO-Chancellor, Dr. Prem Misir maintained, however, that while an increase in tuition will expectedly channel more revenue to the coffers of the university, at the same time such an undertaking could result in the denial of access to some students and that would not be the most desirable since students “should have equal right to admission at the University.”
Over the years, a vast majority of the student population at the country’s premier tertiary institution has benefited from student loans and a large percentage of prospective and current undergraduates depend on said loan in order to assist in furthering themselves to make substantial contributions which are integral to the country’s development.

(By Derwayne Wills)