UG outlines plans for revenue generation, campus modernisation

The University of Guyana (UG) will embark on a series of activities to boost its revenue generation to compliment Government’s subventions to ensure critical projects that will modernise the educational intuition; and guarantee comfort to both students and lecturers.

Insufficient funding has always been a major challenge for UG, preventing the administration from executing projects, particularly infrastructural, which can enhance the overall college experience.

UG’s Vice Chancellor, Dr Ivelaw Griffith, during an interaction with the media on Thursday, explained that in order to transform the university into a modern institution, the administration intends to explore several avenues of revenue generation.

These areas include merchandising, naming opportunities, endowments and fundraising activities. Merchandising is branding of various products with the UG logo for sale as keepsakes.

The administration will soon engage several companies, including Impressions, Topaz, as well as Gaskin and Jacksons, for proposals on this initiative.

“Our university is going to have to get into the business of both online availability and in person availability of things that would help the university both brand and re-image and make some money,” Dr Griffith stated.

He added that naming opportunities is also an excellent concept used by universities around the world.

“You go to universities in the Caribbean and around the world and you see colleges and schools and faculties and buildings with names, those names come with money. And so we are going to have to be in the business of raising money in naming opportunities,” he explained.

The Vice Chancellor also touted the idea of having a store at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and select areas in the Diaspora market where UG products can be on sale.

In addition, Dr Griffith disclosed that the administration is looking to expand UG outside of the Turkeyen campus and the new locations can be used as a revenue earner through rentals.

Currently, he said the university is looking at three locations and a decision is likely to be announced in the New Year.

Responding to calls for more university campuses to be established across the country such as in Essequibo and Linden, the Vice Chancellor said this is not in the short-term plan for UG since it makes no sense investing in the construction of new campuses when the central location needs significant improvements.

Modernisation

To modernise the university, it is asking Government for a $5.2 billion subvention in next year’s budget.

According to the Vice Chancellor, a large portion of the money would be used to pay higher salaries to both foreign and local academic staff.

He stressed that to improve the university’s credibility more foreign staff would have to be hired to perform functions which cannot be taken up by locals owing to the lack of skillset required.

“It’s not always something that colleagues like to hear… Some of the staff we are going to need to hire both on the academic and on the administrative side will need to come from outside Guyana. We will need to attract people from outside that have got skills that we need that are not readily available here,” he explained.

The funds will also be used to improve the laboratory, support overseas travel for lecturers to present papers at international conferences, development of a new library, a new centre for communication studies, fencing of the campus to prevent animals from roaming, the purchase of a tractor, and to improve lighting.

UG also plans to hire its own attorney to take care of all its legal aspects, such as labour issues and intellectual property rights. The VC envisions that the attorney will also work along with law students so they can get that experience before graduating.

UG also has plans to improve its drainage and irrigation system, water supply and pressure, electricity distribution; particularly to reduce the instances of blackouts, reduce flooding associated with heavy rains, expand parking areas, construct new buildings and expand its road network for more vehicular entry and exit.

UG is exploring the option of opening access from Dennis Street, Georgetown and is also in talks with the management of Giftland OfficeMax to connect its entrance road with the campus.

Additionally, Public Infrastructure Ministry, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority and the Guyana Water Incorporation, have been frequenting the campus to examine the existing infrastructure to determine how best they can assist in its improvement plans.