Guyana lost over US$1 trillion with graduates migrating – UG Vice Chancellor

…says urgent attention on repatriation, immigrants needed in ‘hyper-development’ era

The migration of graduates after they would have completed studies in Guyana has come with a hefty loss of over US$1 trillion, as they move to build other countries.

At the University of Guyana’s 2nd Diaspora Conference on Monday, Vice Chancellor, Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin provided an analysis, suggesting that in its 60 years of existence, the institution would have produced more than 50,000 graduates.
At least 30 per cent from the upper and middle socioeconomic layers of Guyanese diaspora, to which she added that Guyanese natives have made many countries great.
“Given the State-subsidised nature of the University, it’s funding is estimated in both terms of direct costs and opportunity costs that Guyana might have lost over US$1 trillion through the immigration of our graduates to other countries, mostly to North America and the Caribbean,” the professor underscored.
Professor Mohamed-Martin reiterated that diaspora engagements are not just to bring people back home but to calculate what it has cost the country in such cases.
According to her, the nuances of these dynamics require urgent attention as well as studies on transnational issues and the role of the diaspora in academia, training and development.
“This underscores the past call and urgent and dire need for an organised study of the diaspora at the University of Guyana since the complexity presented by multiple diasporas who are from Guyana is quite particular and peculiar.”
She added, “As Guyana enters into a special phase of what I’d like to term hyper development and we are beginning to confront the matters of repatriation as well as immigration by diverse groups of non-Guyanese…this is a new problem requiring urgent attention.”
Recent reports, Mohamed-Martin zeroed in, suggest that Guyana has the largest per capita diaspora in the world, with three times more Guyanese living outside of the country than within its borders. She opined that their achievements and actions have had significant impact on Guyana and their host countries.
The Vice Chancellor examined, “For instance, it is reported that remittances back to Guyana in 2019 have been in the vicinity of US$2.6 billion and foreign direct investment, a further US$1.6 billion. The aggressive business agenda of the present Government of Guyana have tracked new projects, which alone have exceeded in 2022, all of the two numbers combined.”
The conference focused on the imbedded power of diasporas, and more importantly, the ability of the Guyanese diaspora to foster resilience, innovation, cultural diffusion, and transformation. Robust discussions on a proposed centre for diaspora study is expected to be a key outcome from this event.
Head of the Diaspora Unit under the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry, Rosalinda Rasul said Government has created an environment for persons in the diaspora to benefit from the opportunities unfolding.
Statistics have pointed to many persons seeking to obtain a Guyanese passport and applications to obtain a house lot in Guyana, she divulged.
“One only needs to look at the statistics, the number of passport applications for the diaspora, the number of birth certificates being renewed for the first-generation diaspora; the number of registration of births for second generation diaspora; the number of remigration applications made at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the number of house lot applications being made by overseas and returning Guyanese,” Rasul disclosed. (G12)