UG should offer more post-graduate programmes – Lancashire Professor
UK-based Guyanese Professor, Jaipaul Singh
By Shemuel Fanfair
Fresh off his recent address to the 2016 graduating class at the University of Guyana’s (UG) Tain Campus, England-based UG alumni and Professor of Physiology and Research Degree Tutor at the University of Lancashire, Jaipaul Singh, has called on this country’s premier tertiary institution to embark on a “higher education revolution”. This, he said, will only be attained if UG pursues and offers more post-graduate training courses leading to the awards of MSc by Research, MPhil, PhD, and MD, as well as awarding DSc and DLit, which are two honorary degrees.
In an exclusive interview with Guyana Times on Thursday, Professor Singh explained that there are a number of areas in research that are essential for UG’s growth.
“There are numerous areas for research in Guyana. They include biodiversity, sea defence, health issues (cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart diseases), tropical medicine and infectious diseases, and social issues (suicide and child-bearing out of marriage – in Black Bush Polder), climate change, agriculture, soil and fishery biology, mining, forestry, fashion, forensic sciences, computing, media and design, sports, wellbeing and leisure, Gas and Oil, Fire, engineering, waste management and environment issues,” the Professor posited.
He added that Guyana is “a natural laboratory for many PhD theses. Things are moving very, very fast, new research activity and research will go hand in hand with quality,” he noted.
“A university is not really a university unless it is involved in research, national and international collaborations, innovation and development and working with companies and outreach. If a university is not involved with research, then it is merely a glorified Further Education College/Institution,” the UK-based professor explained.
Professor Singh also stated that he hopes that current Vice Chancellor, Ivelaw Griffith, will review the entire operations at UG, including the hiring of highly qualified staff. He also noted that with the combination of research, post-graduate courses, and good qualified staff, the university can be improved. He also explained that salary increases are also key to attracting qualified staff.
The Professor also called on private sector entities to offer more support to the university and he even called of Government to implement an “educational tax” on companies, especially those in the extractive sectors.
“All these people who take our money away – gold, diamond; big businessmen in Guyana, why don’t you sponsor a professorship, lectureship, studentships… to bring back some money,” he noted.
Taking into considering the financial challenges UG faces, Professor Singh noted that it should aim to garner foreign students as this will add revenue to the institution.
“My university makes almost 40 million pounds [sterling] a year from foreign students,” he referenced.
Professor Singh highlighted the need for diversification in education and noted that a Campus ought to be established in Essequibo. He further stated that the Tain Campus should offer more courses so that students would not have to travel vast distance to acquire their educational advancements.
The Professor further opined that the State should direct more investments for technical and vocational programmes, as he highlighted that not all persons will be able to attain tertiary education.
“Not all of us can become doctors, dentists or lawyers or professionals – but what about carpentry, plumbing, plastering, electrical engineering, gardening, landscaping and hotel services,” he opined.
He further explained that for the institution to conduct such training courses it must have adequate facilities.
The Professor is attached to the School of Forensic and Applied Sciences at the University of Lancashire, and has worked with that institution for over 30 years.
