With a fairly new Vice chancellor at the helm of the University of Guyana, the country’s premier tertiary institution is set to see significant changes in operation and service.
New UG Vice Chancellor, Dr Ivelaw Griffith during his inaugural press conference vowed to transform the aesthetic of the University, moving it from the place it is now to a place that would benefit every student and staff member.
He met with journalists on Friday, a mere three days after assuming office. During his first week in office, the Professor has already engaged a wide range of staff and students, attended the academic and faculty board meetings, met with senior administration and held interactions with the two workers unions.
According to the Professor, the University of Guyana will be moving head on tackling the issues that have been holding the institution down for far too long.
New University Vice Chancellor Dr Ivelaw Griffith
“We have got to do better as a University, as a nation, in paying our staff decent salaries. True, earlier this year there was an increase and while that increase was necessary, it’s not sufficient”.
He said he has already met with President David Granger and will be meeting shortly with Finance Minister Winston Jordan and Attorney General Basil Williams, to set the stage to enable the University to get the resources from Government to do more, including paying decent wages and salaries to academic and non academic staff.
Better wages and salaries for all staff have always been a major issue and was among the major reasons for the latest bouts of protest actions by the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association and the University of Guyana Workers’ Union.
Meanwhile, the Vice Chancellor said the University will be moving to set the stage to do innovative things that could elevate the premier tertiary body.
“One of the things that will be setting the stage is asking the question, what new things must this university do?” One of those things, he said, is the need to establish a business school at the University. At the dawn of the new semester, the University will be engaging the expertise of a feasibility study team, for them to assess the possibility of establishing such a school.
Griffith has placed as high premium on engaging a wide network of professionals all over the world to galvanise support for enhancing the programmes and operations of the University. In this regard, the first conference of education resource ambassadors will be convened in Georgetown, between June 23 and 25.
“This conference will bring together about 100 professionals, both local and from the Diaspora, particularly from North America and the Caribbean, who have expressed an interest and commitment to contributing financially, technically to taking UG forward”.
With the theme “Dreaming resources, doing resources”, the conference aims specifically at achieving several objectives, including mobilising resources from key domestic and Diaspora stakeholders to enhance infrastructure, finance capital andhuman development challenges; identifying immediate, short and long-term contributions aimed at achieving o mobilising resources to address some of the extant challenges, facilitate a new culture for the collective ownership if the welfare of the university by the widest possible cross section of stakeholders who are willing to contribute to the restoration of the institution’s academic credibility and financial ethnicity.
During the three-day conference, participants will make visits to the University’s campuses (Turkeyen and Tain) to ascertain the immediate needs of the respective campuses, as well as to brainstorm in plenary and working groups on an agenda for immediate, short and long-term action.
