UG’s research, teaching capabilities bolstered as 31 faculty members graduate with PhDs

…“Blessing to UG and the Nation” – Vice Chancellor

The University of Guyana (UG) has received a substantial ‘shot in the arm’ after 31 of its faculty members who were studying for their PhDs and Ed.Ds graduated in December 2023, thus giving the tertiary institution a lift in its research capability while also enhancing the quality of its teaching staff.
The scholars from across UG’s eight Faculties and several service units are already back at the University carrying out teaching, research and administrative functions.
The Advanced Scholars Programme, which began in the 2018/2019 academic year with funding from the ExxonMobil Foundation, was developed by the University of Guyana in a close collaboration with Arizona State University. The project also funded three Masters students, and six doctoral scholarships are expected to be completed in the coming months.
The project, designed by Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin, then Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, and Professor Gary Dirks of Arizona State University in the United States, is aimed primarily at increasing the number of teaching staff with terminal degrees (doctorates) at the University of Guyana by 30 per cent by 2024, and to power up UG’s research capacity.

Now Vice Chancellor, Prof Mohamed-Martin has said the programme was aimed at solving UG’s “dysfunctional composition” of its faculty staff – 80 per cent of whom mainly had Masters degrees or less. The programme was designed in two parts, placing 20 scholars in the Education Doctoral programme and 17 in the PHD Sustainable Science programme.
The UG Vice Chancellor has said the programme is a blessing to the University, its students and the country, since it would immediately increase the research output of the University, improve the quality of teaching, and bolster the fundamental levels of administration and service.
“This experience for these dedicated staff was meant to be more than an academic exercise. It was an experiential one which was critical to operating UG’s Blueprint 2040. This goal has been achieved,” she said.
Prof. Dirks has said, “The programme with UG was absolutely critical to ensuring that The University of Guyana is able to deal with the tsunami of developments which are about to descend upon the country. I was honoured to be part of this very, very important moment for UG and Guyana. So, I think the benefits are going to be far-reaching for this programme. To begin with, this number of PHDs – and of course there’s an Ed.D programme as well – expands the capacity considerably for the University of Guyana. At the time when there is enormous change happening in Guyana, I believe these graduates will be an important capability that can be applied to all the extraordinary events that lie ahead for Guyana.”
The University of Guyana’s Advanced Scholar Programme focused on action research on key problems located in all 10 regions of Guyana, as well as the University of Guyana itself as a community of interest. Dissertations on sustainable agriculture and forestry, energy, education and Indigenous communities, water and pollution, biodiversity, chemical and mechanical innovations and technologies, computing, labour economics, education, educational administration and support systems, to name a few, were produced over four intensive years of study and research.
Scholars under the project have so far published over 60 research papers. Two books and a conference on their work are currently in preparation, and the project itself is being studied as a model system for rapid results use of the academy in sustainable development.
The University of Guyana will be featuring one scholar and their work every week starting in February 2024.
“This was a blessing, and it was wonderful to see them all graduate on time and excellent… They did UG proud and they did Guyana proud… Really delighted that this came to fruition,” VC Mohamed-Martin has posited.
This bolstering of UG’s capability comes on the heels of Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo highlighting the need for the tertiary institution to improve not only the quality of teaching staff, but also the quality of degree programmes being offered there as well.
During a recent press conference, the Vice President was asked about the need for comparable salary for UG lecturers. This was premised against the same services being offered by the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarship initiative. However, Jagdeo noted that while Guyana needs both UG and the GOAL programme, the former needs enhancement.
“[The University of Guyana] needs to have a good quality of degree [programmes], particularly first degrees. Around a core number of areas and quality is important…so a lot has to be reviewed there too; and the Government, now that it will be using taxpayers’ resources to fund the entire university, needs to ensure that we have solid leadership, and also that we have value for money, and the output – the quality of the degree [programme] – is of a standard that is recognised everywhere in the world,” the VP stated. (G8)