“Education and training will outlast oil & gas industry” – UG Vice Chancellor

…as UG hosts orientation for new academic year

“A disregard and lack of respect for education and training could be the downfall of our great nation on the doorstep of now, a possible stellar success. It would be an unbelievable pity and huge opportunity lost if Guyanese cannot fill most of the openings in our country in what is called local content.”

These were the sentiments expressed by Vice Chancellor of the University, Dr Paloma Mohammed to the new and continuing student of the University of Guyana (UG), in giving the feature address and welcoming the students on Friday, as the University held a virtual ceremonial opening orientation session for its students as they prepare to commence the new academic year 2021/2022 on Monday.
The reopening of the university will see some 1600 new students attending classes within the various faculties.
Approximately 7000 students are currently registered and enrolled at the university.
It was revealed that for the first semester, classes will continue to be held virtually until further notice indicates otherwise.
Dr Mohamed lauded the students’ resilience in making it this far in the journey of the university life.
“The fact that you have made it to a new year, if you are continuing, and to the first year, if you are new, is a testament to how resilient you are,” she commended.
The Vice Chancellor stressed on the importance of having a university education by stating that “a university education distinguishes you in several ways and gives you a better outcome for earning mobility, even respectability.”
She further explained that having a university education is lifechanging and has proven to be one of the best indicators of future economic and social mobility.
This, she stated is “not only for the graduand, but also for their families, the communities in which they find themselves, and other places wider in the world. It is therefore a highly competitive process and further intended to test and illicit your true talents, and ability,” the Vice Chancellor expressed.
“For Guyana, in this particular moment, when there are so many needs for jobs in areas that we have never been accustomed to providing and areas in which we have been providing but, we need more people,” she pointed out.
Professor Mohamed emphasised on the fact that Guyanese need to take advantage of the many avenues that are waiting to be realised, while noting that the value of education and training is that it can change not only people’s technical proficiencies but also fundamentally who they are.
“This is an investment that never ends. That pays itself forward for generations. Investing in education and training lasts way beyond the first generation of those educated. And in our case, while everyone is super focused on local content for oil and gas, in truth, educating and training now will outlast that industry, which itself has a shelf life like many others,” she indicated.
She revealed that education, unlike the oil and gas sector, never depreciates since it is transferrable and can only be appreciated exponentially as long as the person who chose to be educated is alive.
“It has multiplier effects at various levels, and what I mean by this is that many people in areas get benefits from a single investment, and most of all, what is inside you. What is already inside you, in your brain, in your heart cannot be taken away, stolen, or appropriated by anyone else.”
She urged the students to take full advantage of the opportunity they were given to further educate themselves to higher levels.
Additionally, she made note of the university’s four aspirational goals in its blueprint 2040, with goal one being, having at least one university graduate in every household.
To this end, she implored persons who would not have been successful in their application not to give up on their dreams and aspirations of furthering their studies, since works are currently being done to extend the university’s capacity, especially in some key and competitive areas. (Nathifa Punch)