Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 05, 2014 News
Having completed an interactive series of consultations among strategic stakeholders, mainly students, the administration of the University of Guyana (UG) is prepared to institute ‘a long in coming’ tuition fee hike.
Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Jacob Opadeyi, made this announcement yesterday. “We are preparing for the next move and that is to implement the new tuition fee; we are definitely going ahead with that…”
According to the Vice Chancellor, the consultations during the past week at both the Turkeyen and Tain campuses were not intended to ascertain whether persons were accepting the tuition fee hike.
“It was a matter of whether the University would survive or remain in debt; it was a matter of whether we should continue to be where we are or secure money; to improve our facilities, to improve on our delivery, to make the campus more habitable for students. It was not a matter of who was for or against,” explained Professor Opadeyi.
The Vice Chancellor said that he is certainly not worried about students retaliating against the fee increase since he is convinced that “when they are protesting it is not against the fee hike, they are protesting how we are going to pay for it.”
But according to him this should not be a challenge since “we have the student loan and the student loan will be in place to pay for the increase…I won’t say that I have had such a commitment but students’ loan has always been there to take care of students who cannot afford to pay their way.”
He said that even if the fee is not increased “then somebody has to give us the required monies to run the University…It is a question of our agenda in terms of managing the country’s tertiary institution.”
“So as far as the University is concerned it don’t even matter to us if the tuition is free or if it is paid; what matters is that we have the money to run the University, pay our staff properly and have the proper infrastructure,” outlined the Vice Chancellor.
“We are simply a service provider; we are not Government but we know what the minimum standard is in order for our degree to be recognised around the world.”
He hinted to his belief that the tuition fee hike is gaining the support of Government. “I am not aware that Government is not in support; (the University’s) Council is in support of this and Council has (representation from) Government, (the parliamentary) opposition and Civil Society.”
The Vice Chancellor amplified that the tuition fee hike is being fully supported by University’s staff and their unions. But according to President of the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA), Dr Patsy Francis, at a press conference in May, “We are not in agreement with increasing the university students’ fees without concomitant increases in quality. We are not in agreement with that and we have put forward our own proposal for the increase in students’ fees…”
But Professor Opadeyi is adamant that improvements to the University were always on the cards. According to him, with the increase in the tuition fee, by the end of the upcoming academic year there will not only be an evident facelift at the University but students as well as staff will benefit from continued free internet on campus; better seating arrangements and digital whiteboards in classrooms effectively doing away with the conventional blackboards.
He said that there will be more sporting facilities and improved toilet and drainage facilities, which have both been bug-bears over the years.
Students were put on notice in mid-June about the looming tuition increase. The notice issued by Deputy Registrar on June 13, last, in part stated, “Please be advised that registration for the 2014-2015 academic years will most likely commence in July 2014. This is because of the impending increase to the tuition fee, which has to be finalised before your registration commences. Any inconvenience caused is regretted.”
In 1994 moves were made to have the tuition fee pegged at US$1,000 which, at the time, was equivalent to G$127,000. This move was implemented after a review by Government to ascertain the University’s financial position, an undertaking that concluded that the tertiary institution should be self-financing.
Noticeable changes in the currency exchange rate over the years were taken into consideration by the University’s Council in 2012 which saw a call being made for an adjustment to the tuition fee that matched the exiting exchange rate.
The recommended modification was however not adopted and only became a public ‘bone of contention’ when Professor Opadeyi assumed the position of Vice Chancellor last year.
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