About two weeks ago the new vice chancellor of the University of Guyana, Dr. Ivelaw Griffith, corralled some of his associates and friends of the university at the Marriott Hotel to provide them with an insight into the state of the university, discuss the way forward, and make tangible commitments to the institution. This was undoubtedly a laudable endeavour, which apparently achieved its goal, and if the news reports are correct, commitments valued at some $14.5m were made.
Yet, important as they are, at this stage of the development of the university, such efforts can at best be only supplementary. It therefore came as no surprise that the gathering called upon the government to provide substantial emergency funding lest the university collapses. Perhaps if there was any chance that the university would have collapsed it would have been given more funds long ago but the more likely outcome of the persistent lack of proper funding would be is its perpetuation at increasing levels of decay.
