Proposal for UG business school being explored – Vice Chancellor
Plans are being made to have a business school established for the University of Guyana (UG). This is according to UG’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Ivelaw Griffith, who called the proposed school a school of ‘entrepreneurship and business innovation’.
UG Vice-Chancellor Ivelaw Griffith
Griffith made this pronouncement during the recent Georgetown Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (GCCI) Annual General Meeting (AGM). He stated that a team was assembled and had looked at the feasibility of the project.
According to Griffith, he will take a formal proposal to establish the school to the University council on March 30.
“I assembled a team and I asked them to help us plan to construct and establish a school of entrepreneurship and business innovation. In August of last year, the feasibility team met with stakeholders in the business and civil community.”
The Vice Chancellor stated that the team was able to submit the first draft of the report four weeks ago. Detailing the consultations, he revealed that the draft report was shared with stakeholders in order to get feedback, before a final recommendation would be made to the University council.
“We travelled to Corriverton, spent half a day and then we went to Port Moraunt, Tain Campus, meeting with businesses, high school students, meeting civil society, and then the day after we travelled to Anna Regina. We went to Linden. And then there was a final session at Herdmanston Lodge where we had a mix of critiques and suggestions.”
“I’ve identified the person who will be the founding Dean. He is a member of the feasibility team, a professor of Business in Maryland. I’ve identified the person who will be the Assistant Dean of that school, Diana Gobin, currently the Assistant Dean of Social Sciences.”
“We’re looking at a property to house that school. And the curriculum we are going to be using for that school is a curriculum that will resonate with the needs and interest of the business environment of the larger political landscape with an economic project.”
He gave assurances that the school’s curriculum will be an interface with theory and the real world and therefore would not focus solely on theory. He added that both regional and local case studies would play an important role in the students’ curriculum.
“We have lots of examples of successful companies in this country and region, but we have not catalogued and inventoried the experiences. We will have written and video cases. We want to ensure that the students know a little more about the success and failures of companies in Guyana and the Caribbean.”
Funding
Describing the University as a “sea with troubled waters”, he noted that the problems with the institution will not be managed by “simply standing and lamenting and hoping to cross the sea.” He therefore expressed the need for funding for the university, besides Government allocations.
“We all know a University of Guyana is a significant player in our society in the construction of social and economic and the political architecture. But we are accustom to a university with significant investment from the Government and very minimal from other stakeholders. Ladies and gentlemen, those days are over.”
“We cannot look to the Government to be the most significant contributor only and continuously. We have to broaden the base and bring under the tent every possible stakeholder. The business community, in my view, is a significant shareholder in the educational investment called the University of Guyana, even if only in the school of entrepreneurship.”
Under the Department of Business and Management studies, UG offers Diplomas in Accountancy, Banking and Finance, Marketing, Personnel and Industrial Relations. There are also Degrees in Accountancy and Management.
This will be a complement to plans ongoing to establish a law school, the JOF Haynes Law School, at Turkeyen. A Memorandum of Understanding has already been signed between the Government of Guyana, the University College of the Caribbean (UCC) and the Law College of the Americas (LAC).
