“Ground-breaking” partnership forged between UG, Trent University

…through funding from CGX, Frontera Energy

The University of Guyana has inked a collaborative agreement with Trent University for advanced academic and research programmes in sustainable transformation courtesy of CGX Energy Incorporated and Frontera Energy Corporation.

Officials of the University of Guyana, Trent University, CGX, Frontera and the Energy Department during the launching event

At a launching ceremony on Thursday at the University of Guyana (UG) Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown Campus, it was announced that the partnership will feature doctoral and master’s degrees programmes being pursued.
The 12 individuals will travel to Canada to pursue studies under a fully-paid scholarship. However, the research programmes will involve additional persons. Upon completion of their studies, the recipients will be required to return to Guyana and serve the university for a period of time.
The programme will run for five years and is worth CDN$5 million. The aim is to equip individuals with the knowledge, who in turn, will train the next generation of highly skilled Guyanese.
As part of the training and research, topics such as water quality, sustainable food and agriculture, Indigenous studies, natural products and chemistry will be magnified.
According to Deputy Vice Chancellor of UG, Professor Paloma Mohamed, the selection of candidates will be fully impartial and dependent on the qualifications of applicants. In the near future, the University will advertise the programmes that will be offered.
“It’s gonna help to create 12 terminal degrees, so master’s level as well as couple of PhDs. So people in the system by open competition. We’re not handpicking anybody. The best of the best will have to apply and they’ll rise to the top,” Mohammed informed.
According to Vice President of Operations at CGX, Michael Stockinger, local content should be incorporated in country’s operation. For this initiative, they are willing to support in the technical and financial departments.
“We have a unique perspective, which is, always incorporate local content. From day one, all of our operations have been based in Guyana. We’re very pleased to incorporate Guyana in all aspects of our business. We consider this initiative ground-breaking and outward looking. We will not be involved in the actual operations of this programme but we will help it both financially and technically,” the Vice President stated.
He further expressed that this paves a way for persons to return with additional qualifications to serve their country.
“The newly-developed, high-quality personnel will give back to Guyana, which is also very important in the form of training and/or research. So it is definitely focused all on Guyana…To do this now makes a lot of sense. We will be able to utilise the benefits financially and technically that will be available from oil and gas development”.
Meanwhile, Energy Director, Dr Mark Bynoe lauded initiative by the energy companies, stating that it will build local capacity. Moreover, the importance of corporate responsibility to a company’s credibility was also highlighted.
“A sound, robust corporate social responsibility framework and organisational mindset can genuinely help those companies seeking to do business in Guyana, to deliver public value outcomes by focusing on how their services can make a difference in our country,” Bynoe related.
Applications will be opened for interested persons in the near future, and based on their compliance with the requisite criteria, they will be selected.