GUYANA’S premier tertiary institution, the University of Guyana (UG) and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (PFUR) yesterday inked a ‘Cooperative Agreement’ which will seek to foster relations between the two academic institutions. A Russian delegation headed by First Vice-Rector, Professor Evgeny L. Shchesnyak arrived in Guyana on Tuesday, and in a four-day period they aim to strengthen educational exchanges between Guyana and Russia.
The focal point of the visit is to ink the agreement which was done yesterday, providing the opportunity for lecturers and students to enhance their skills, apply to exchange programmes, and exercise joint research activities in the fields of agriculture, mining and geology, among other areas.
At the brief ceremony held in the Education Lecture Theatre (ELT) yesterday, Vice Chancellor (VC) of UG, Professor Jacob Opadeyi explained that if the agreement was examined from a broad perspective, one would realize that it has the potential to transform UG to where Guyana wants it to be.
Opadeyi also said that the agreement facilitates, inter alia, the sending of lecturers to PFUR to pursue their PhD studies, the opportunity for Guyanese students to take advantage of programmes which are available at PFUR in English, and the issuing of Russian textbooks which have been translated to English and Spanish to benefit Guyana and other neighbouring countries.
“We are excited about the prosperity of this initiative,” the VC said, adding that the agreement will also seek to facilitate business relations between Russian businessmen and Guyanese business persons.
Giving the assurance to the media that these efforts to foster relations between the two nations will see fruitful manifestations, Opadeyi related that following the signing, the two universities are going to “develop concrete agreement” of what they are going to develop this year. “So we are confident that before the end of this year, some activities will take place,” he added.
To this end, he thanked the Russian delegation on behalf of the University’s Council for their efforts in helping to advance the quality of education delivered at UG.
Representing the PFUR was First Vice-Rector, Professor Evgeny L. Shchesnyak, who expressed delight in entering the agreement with UG. While he noted that Guyana has “nice people”, he stressed that the agreement aims to bring a better future to the people of Guyana.
To this end, he was “absolutely sure” that this initiative will be a successful one based on how negotiations have gone over the last few days.
Following this, the two representatives of the universities signed the agreement after which they had a photo opt.
The Cooperation Agreement will allow the two Institutions to collaborate through the following:
* Exchange of professors, lecturers, scientists and staff for teaching and research purposes;
* joint research activities;
* Upgrading of professors and lecturers;
* Preparation and translation of textbooks, manuals and curricula;
* Joint organisation of conferences, seminars and symposia;
* Exchange of undergraduate and postgraduate students;
* Exchange of publications;
* Attachments or internships which are language-related.

By Ravin Singh