Dear Editor,
As usual the PPP’s awesome propaganda machinery is busy blaming university faculty and staff for the present crisis at University of Guyana. However, they are the ones in power and they are expected to improve the physical and academic climate at the university. I have not seen any serious plan to improve the long-term financial viability of the university. Many students feel entitled to a quality university education for free and the politicians want their football for leverage.
The elected government of the day is sitting on a comparative advantage in English language yet they can’t modernize the place, use the brand UG, and attract about 5000 foreign students a year from South and Central America to pay a premium of about US$6000, which will be a steal compared with North America or Europe. Of course, it will require a capital injection because it must be improved first for the foreign students to pay the premium which subsidizes the locals, who I believe should pay something or get it free for National Service or pure academic merit. The opportunity cost of Marriott is this capital injection. The opportunity cost of ‘Fip’ Motilall’s road is the capital injection. The opportunity cost of a new airport terminal is the capital injection. The opportunity cost of fixing the Skeldon sugar factory – which should have been done properly from the beginning – is the capital injection.
Editor, I am not naïve to discount the fact that some lecturers and staff are invoking national politics to cover up for incompetence and office politics. All around the world universities have clear criteria for promotion. Those are (i) teaching, (ii) research and (iii) services to the local and global community. Therefore, those who cannot perform should not be promoted. I would go as far as introducing a tenure clock as in the American system. If a faculty can’t beat the clock he/she is out in six or seven years. In any case, those with automatic tenure as in the present British system will obviously face the frown cost within their respective field of study if one remains a junior lecturer for a few decades. Faculty can be paid with a combination of salary, status, duty free concessions, free house lots and research support. These criteria must be communicated clearly to the union and made known to the public so everyone can observe who are the ones fighting progress.
Yours faithfully,
Tarron Khemraj
