Time to close the University of Guyana

Feb 09, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The University of Guyana is not a case study about the dangers of politicization of academic institutions.
It is rather an example of two different problem sets: firstly of political neglect; and secondly of the need for institutional revamping rather than the problems of reforming institutions in post-authoritarian societies.
It is not the politicization of the University of Guyana that has led to its present problems.
Rather it is the failure of the PPP to recognize two important truisms: firstly that certain institutions cannot in the post authoritarian era be simply reformed. They have to be completely dismantled and rebuilt.
Secondly, the present impasse at the University of Guyana is as a result of the PPP neglect by allowing the University to become a den of opposition activism.
The government can put their lackeys on the Council. They can appoint distinguished and independent administrators at the University.
They can ensure that professionals are in charge of the University. It does not matter. Power is on the ground at the University and it is the PNCR that controls the ground at the University of Guyana.
The University of Guyana at one time had the most independent of all trade unions in Guyana. They were fiercely militant and they were fiercely independent. They represented both the academic and the non-academic staff.
The PNC, however, in order to break a crippling strike at the University, split that union and created a union for academics and from that day onwards it is the PNCR that controls the ground at the University of Guyana because no one union can shut the University down.
When the PPP came to power in 1992 it neglected its duty to depoliticize the University of Guyana. In fact, it seemed comfortable in allowing the University to become a major foothold of the PNC so much so that the PNCR has achieved an unprecedented stranglehold on the university and the government is now unable to do anything about that.
The attitude of the PPP to the University was almost as if they were saying that the university was not a priority and that it was okay for it to become a bastion of opposition control and support.
And this is exactly what happened. The present state of the University of Guyana is a result of political neglect on the part of the PPP. The PPP is now reaping the rewards of its neglect.
It is also learning an important lesson in terms of reform or rather the lack of reform of institutions in post authoritarian societies. Certain institutions simply cannot be reformed.
They have to be revamped. The PPP did not understand this and therefore found themselves in a mess in terms of both the Guyana Police Force and the University of Guyana.
The reform process within the Guyana Police Force will fail because you cannot reform such a deformed organization. Worse yet, that reform cannot be achieved from without because there will be stern resistance, as there no doubt is, from within.
When the PPP came to power in 1992, it should have begun the process of creating a brand new police force and should have begun to dismantle the existing structures of the authoritarian police that it inherited from the PNC. It should have recognized the problems faced in other countries transitioning to democratic rule.
A change of government from an authoritarian to a democratic one was a necessary but not a sufficient condition for professionalizing the Guyana Police Force. The Guyana Police Force could not have been reformed. It needed to be deconstructed.
It is the same with the University of Guyana. Reform is not going to come with new policies, new councils, new administration or an injection of significant resources. What is needed is a new university, one that is free of the vice of the PNC.
The present industrial problem at the University of Guyana may be a blessing in disguise. It presents the government with the opportunity to close down the University of Guyana and to recreate a new institution, one that is university of schools.
These schools should be self-governing, offer courses based on local demand and be full cost recovery. In this way, the New University of Guyana would be created into a commercially viable institution, free from dependence on government and with no need for its campuses to be turned into the political battlefields that they are today.
To bring about this objective, it is necessary to recreate a new university, not reform it. And for this to happen the present University of Guyana should be shut down for two years so that a new creature can be created.

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