Professor Jacob Opadeyi, the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG), yesterday said a continuous curriculum review and evaluations of the performance of the academic staff would be features of the pillars that he believes will take the university from where it is now to one on par with any foreign tertiary institution.
For this goal to be accomplished, he told a news conference, it is imperative that UG improves the quality of its offerings, establish a lasting relationship with “the wider community” and “strengthen it partnerships with the private sector.” He further noted that once these three pillars are set as the university’s foundation, UG will attain its full potential.
As it relates to the improvement of its offerings, Opadeyi stressed the need for continuous “curriculum reviews,” which, he said, must be done every five years in faculties and departments, despite the quality of the offered programmes.
He explained that the needs of society are constantly changing, which means that the education being provided by the university also ought to change so that its programmes remain relevant. He said that programmes must take into consideration the needs of employers and other stakeholders, so as to tailor their development to these needs. Once created and reviewed, he added, programme curriculums will then be scrutinised by external reviewers and examiners and would not be implemented unless they are approved by these stakeholders.
In keeping with this initiative, he mentioned that examination questions will also be sent to external examiners so as to ascertain if they are relevant to the course being taught, and by extension, what society requires.
So important was this aspect of the overhaul, said Opadeyi, that it was set on his second day of employment as UG’s Vice-Chancellor in February.
Marked test scripts will now be sent to external examiners so as to ascertain if a lecturer would have been too generous, or not generous enough with the distribution of marks. He said that the marks of the top brass as well as those at the bottom will be scrutinised to see the difference in mark allocation.
He stated too that UG must cease to accept cases where any class has more than a 50% failure rate, and opined that this system would assist in the process. In such cases, he noted, lecturers will be required to submit a written report detailing their perceived reason for that level of failure
He also alluded to the US$10 million made available by the World Bank to be used for the improvement of some of the university’s facilities and equipment, especially in the Science and Technology faculties. This, he said, is a good start, but there will be need for more investment to sustain initiatives.
Opadeyi also shared plans to set up a Quality Assurance Unit at the university, with a mandate that will entail the assessment of various processes. This unit is to set up by the end of the year.
He also mentioned plans to seek accreditation for all provisional programmes and said that within a space of three years, every programme offered by the university will be accredited. Opadeyi said that this will be accomplished by liaising with other accredited universities who will be able to provide advice on what changes, if any, need to be made in the respective programmes.
He also said that since lecturers evaluate their students by way of exams, students will also be able to evaluate their lecturers with an im-proved evaluations process. The Vice-Chancellor noted that a means of student assessment of lecturers already exists, but said that he was not at all impressed with the system. With the new system, students will grade lecturers on punctuality and their performance in the classroom.
He said that a student-staff liaison system will be developed in every faculty, which will give students the ability to interface with lecturers. He said that this initiative was important because it is important that staff become aware of what difficulties students are facing so that they can address them.
Particularly important to this process of improved offerings is the on-time submission of exam results. Opadeyi said that when students are given assignments, they are expected to bring them in by the designated deadline. Such deadlines are also given to lecturers regarding the submission of exam grades and it is quite important that each of them honour these deadlines. This enforcement should be fully implemented by year end, he said.
Opadeyi also said that the improving of the quality of staff, and lecturers in particular, is monumental if the standards of the university are to rise. To this end, there are plans to provide opportunities for staff to attain higher degrees. He said that five years from now there should be nobody among the university’s academic staff with a first degree and any applicants bearing such would be refused.
The Vice-Chancellor said that the solicitation of internal and external resources will be instrumental in accomplishing that particular task. In addition to attaining higher education, he said that lecturers must be taught the proper way to teach as well as set and grade papers. He said that the fact that an individual would have qualified for the lecturing position does not guarantee that they will be able to efficiently execute the responsibilities required of them.
He also spoke of peer and mentor systems, where lecturers can pair up and sit in each other’s classes to assess each other’s work, and then give reviews. This, he said, may also improve the efficiency of the education being provided in UG’s classrooms.
Partnerships
Opadeyi also emphasised the importance of establishing a lasting relationship with the wider community. UG must open its doors to the community, he said, while noting that this can be done by having a bi-annual open lecture series or even by encouraging an “Idea Forum,” where persons can congregate to discuss and attempt to find solutions to many of the issues plaguing society.
“How many valuable ideas have been lost because we did not record them?” he questioned, while also mentioning that all ideas given at such a forum will be recorded.
While lauding UG’s open day, which is geared more toward benefitting secondary school students, he suggested that the university also host a market day, where it brings in stakeholders to show graduates what opportunities await them after they would have graduated.
In line with nurturing a relationship with the wider community, Opadeyi said partnerships with the Private Sector are also extremely important. It is not conducive to have a 100% public university, he argued, saying financing for the institution is currently channeled by way of subventions from the government, or loans to supplement tuition fees, also supported by the government.
Opadeyi stated his conviction that UG should not sit and wait on government subventions, but forge relationships with private sector stakeholders who also command an untapped well of financial resources UG could use to further develop itself.
He suggested that the university capitalise on the enormous acres of unused land it possesses by bringing in concessions, such as fast food restaurants, supermarkets and pharmacies. He said that instead of using university resources, the private sector could be encouraged to donate more park benches, walkways and maintain the lawn. He also said that the university could even explore the option of having the private sector sponsor an ambulance to be used by the university.
Since the University of Guyana campuses sport a population of over 7,000 students, excluding its over 600-member staff, these concessions should be provided with a very enticing reason to set up operations on the campuses, and maintain those operations.
Opadeyi said that considering the fact that Guyana is one of the regional and global leaders in the production of rice, sugarcane and rum, the university should explore the possibility of attaining a “Professor of Rice Develop-ment,” a “Professor of Rum Development” as well as a “Professor of Sugar Cane Production.” He said that such seats would surely improve the quality of rice, sugarcane, and rum production in Guyana, therefore creating avenues where it can profit from its expertise.
Enrolment
He also stressed the importance of increasing enrolment in his agenda, and not just with Guyanese, but nationals from other countries in the region. He said that when he first arrived, he assumed that regional nationals would be taking advantage of the low tuition fees offered by the university. What he later learned was that many Caribbean nationals had never even heard about the University of Guyana.
Opadeyi said that Guyana has a “jewel” in UG, especially considering the fact that there are many countries in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), for example, without their own universities. “There is pride in having a local university. As such, we should strive to make it one we are proud of,” Opadeyi said.
Much effort needs to be devoted to marketing the university regionally, he said, adding that the network that such an initiative is capable of creating is invaluable.
The Vice Chancellor also announced plans to renew UG’s radio and television broadcasting licences so that its students may be able to reach a wider cross-section of Guyanese to share music, poetry or their opinions.
Finally, he stated the importance of accepting every student who satisfies the criteria set out by the university. Opadeyi said that it is unreasonable and unacceptable to refuse an applicant who would have worked hard to achieve good enough results. He said that it is wrong for any university to refuse a student because it lacks sufficient space and he said that “if there isn’t space we need to make space.”
