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Feb 19, 2016 News
Raising the financial status of the University of Guyana (UG) is an achievement that is being flaunted by
immediate past Vice Chancellor, Professor Jacob Opadeyi.
Reflecting on his three-year tenure at the national tertiary institution, the Nigeria-born Professor bragged about increasing the tuition fee, a feat that was not achieved in the past 20 years.
“That has put us in the black, when we used to be in the red. We have not only increased the tuition fee (but) we have built into the system a five per cent increase every year to go with inflation so that the University will remain in the black,” he asserted.
But his achievement has not been limited to improving the financial situation at the University.
This was validated by University of Guyana Student Society (UGSS) President, Joshua Griffith. Griffith during an interview with this publication disclosed that the improvements realised under Professor Opadeyi’s tenure included an improved bursary structure, efforts to pay off owed utilities after years of indebtedness, and attempts to regularise NIS contributions on behalf of staffers.
“There are a lot of positives that he would have contributed to at the University and we appreciate his service. A lot of his implementations have indeed improved a lot of the management issues on the campus…we can’t deny that,” Griffith stressed.
It was during Professor Opadeyi’s tenure that the University introduced its online degree programme which has been allowing students from as far as Lethem, Essequibo, and other far-flung areas to take advantage of courses offered. But according to him, “we need to do more so that more people can have access to University education.”
The Vice Chancellor is also taking credit for encouraging a culture at the University whereby faculty members have been striving to advance their level of qualifications. He revealed that when he commenced his tenure, about 87 lecturers had Bachelor of Science qualifications. But Professor Opadeyi insisted that “this is a no-no at any University; the minimum you need is a Master’s Degree.”
Professor Opadeyi’s tenure came to an end on Monday last (February 15, 2016) and he was happy to report that the Bachelor of Science-qualified lectures have been reduced to a mere 33. Those who have not commenced the process of advancing their qualifications have been given a three-year ultimatum to do so, he informed.
In the quest to help improve the quality of lecturers at the University, Professor Opadeyi revealed that the University has partnered with other universities that offer scholarships.
And enhancing the quality of staffers was touted as particularly important, since according to Professor Opadeyi, “once you improve the quality of your lecturers the quality of their delivery will improve.”
Added to this, he disclosed that the University is committed to paying the fees of library staff desirous of pursuing degrees in library science.
Professor Opadeyi, in boasting of the high quality of programmes that the University is able to offer, went on to assert that “the examination process is still very rigorous and our lecturers do deliver quality programmes.”
This is in spite of the fact that the University last year lost its international accreditation status for its School of Medicine. The loss of the accreditation, however, was not due to the quality of the programme offered, but rather, other issues, including some infrastructural concerns.
But according to Professor Opadeyi, he has been able to considerably better the infrastructural situation and general atmosphere at UG.
“If you were at the University three years ago and (came back) now, you would see how much cleaner the environment is, and that took a lot of doing. We are also very pleased with the donation of over 2,000 chairs…and we added 1,000 more (too); so students don’t have to move them from one class to another.”
But a challenge that faced the University even before Professor Opadeyi’s arrival and continues to face the University even after his departure, is that almost 70 per cent of the student population can only attend classes in the evening.
“When they get to class after work they are too tired and the next morning they have to go to work. There is no time to engage them in discussions, but I wish we can get a situation where our students can come to class at 9 o’clock (9 am) and they can engage in full discussions,” Professor Opadeyi intimated.
In fact he is of the firm conviction that “a good university student doesn’t need to go to class every day, but because our classes are packed in the evening they have to attend class every day and have assignment after assignment…because they are all full-time workers, all they are interested in is the examination.”
In an attempt to help address this state of affairs, he disclosed that the University implemented a system to allow students to highlight issues that they face. This however has thus far not yielded the desired results, as according to Professor Opadeyi “students can complain more to us and things will be better, but our students do not complain.”
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