Latest update May 13th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 29, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
What is the plan for the University of Guyana? That plan is not clear. It may not have been fully crystallized as yet. The government has announced how it intends to develop the University of Guyana and improve its standards.
While the government is twiddling its thumbs, the University is sliding backwards. It is in reverse gear. The most recent manifestation of this was the decision by the University of Guyana to reduce the standard of the eligibility requirements.
Traditionally, you needed either five ‘O’ level of CXC passes at one sitting or six at two sittings. University students are required to take a minimum of eight courses per year, four each semester. The entry requirement of five subjects at one sitting or six at two sittings is intended, in part, to ensure that the students who are accepted can handle the workload of eight courses per semester. It is also intended to ensure a minimum standard of performance.
With complaints about standards falling at the University; with employers bemoaning the fact that many university graduates are simply not up to scratch, it was to be expected that the new coalition government would have taken steps to improve the admission requirements. Instead the opposite is taking place.
The University has just announced that there is no longer a stipulation as to the minimum number of sittings required to meet the eligibility requirements. What this means is that even if you pass your five subjects at ten sittings, you can gain admission.
Why is the university going this route? It surely does not have a problem with the numbers of admissions. In fact many students from top schools in Guyana are complaining that despite having ‘A’ level qualifications, they cannot gain entry into certain programmes. These programmes are filled.
Others of course need numbers, and the removal of the stipulated number of sittings can only encourage below average students to apply and gain admission. Already there are concerns about the equivalency given to some programmes which are used as alternative entry requirements for admission. In the past, it was felt that these alternative requirements were created to facilitate the entry of PNC supporters into the university.
A great many children are graduating from high school and desirous of a university education. They want a quality education, so that when they leave their degrees can be respected. They do not want employers being circumspect about employing them. These students want to rub shoulders with other bright students, not someone who has six subjects from seven sittings. Such a student should not be admitted to any university, period.
In fact the University of Guyana should have abolished all alternative qualifications and insisted that those who wished to gain admission, go and do their ‘O’ levels and CXC privately.
They could have gone further and raised standards and insisted that only persons with ‘A’ levels should gain admission to the university, as is the case with the University of the West Indies. This higher admission requirement has worked for all UWI campuses, and it has produced graduates who have gone on to be Prime Ministers in the Caribbean.
But not UG! They want to go backwards instead of forward. They have removed the stipulated minimum sittings for meeting the eligibility requirements. No wonder young people do not want to attend that university. No wonder employers are weary of accepting UG graduates unless they have a distinction in their field of study.
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