a) Yes. UG announced and started a phased return to Face to Face classes since the 2021/22 Academic year.

b) At the moment only 20% of UG’s students are exclusively online.

c) A large number of those receiving instructions online are teachers who are required to teach during the day and study in the evenings by request of the Ministry of Education in 2022

(https://education.gov.gy/en/index.php/media2/news-events/4895-ug-s-facu….

d) https://ms-my.facebook.com/NewsSourceGuyana/videos/centre-of-excellence…

e) The University considers it a massive step in modernization to be able to offer students
flexible options where possible.

a) The University of Guyana offers Face to Face, Online and Blended Learning opportunities. From April 2020 to June 2021 (COVID period), The University was forced to build an expanded online architecture to ensure its students were able to learn and graduate during the COVID period.

b) Two subsequent surveys indicated that 70% of the students preferred or needed to stay online given their jobs, locations, domestic situations and other personal characteristics/considerations.

c) The University in 2021 began a phased return to face to face classes for 65% of its students and by 2024 most of the students who choose to and those who must attend compulsory classes are back on the campuses across the country.

a) It is now a matter of national and strategic security to ensure that our internal online capacity is at its optimum so that people can be trained uninterrupted, in case of any emergencies.

b) Additionally, it could be considered important for the State’s university to maintain the ability to continue its online operations as well as perfect them for maximum national security and mobility in uncertain times caused by national security matters, natural disasters such as floods and predicted pandemics. Additionally, considerable investment, mainly through donors, has been made in UG’s robust IT and online architecture.

c) GOG Education Sector Development Plan requires the systematic and strategic incorporation of technology into all aspects of education. UG as the State University is implementing this in several ways

a) At present, only 20% (about 2000) of UG’s students are exclusively online. Most students are blended or face-to-face.

b) All students who opt for online classes, where this could be facilitated, can be taught exclusively online.

c) Some students who live and work in remote areas are taught online. This includes those Teaching, serving in medical areas, serving in the military and law enforcement, those having to travel overseas for work and other reasons (such as medical), students with severe disabilities, those who enrolled online during COVID and live overseas, some // foreign and international students, including Guyanese in the diaspora.

a) UG has built one of the most sophisticated arrays for online teaching, records management, assessment, and backend academic services (such as registration, payment, certificate and transcript requests etc.) in the country and in the region.

a) Being continuously built out in a phased manner from April 2020 to present, UG’s Tactical Online Services Unit consists of the following Units which are self-explanatory:

b) IT Governance, Research, Innovation, and Security (IGRIS) address all issues and policies relating to cyber security, ethics, and general safety of students, faculty, and staff, while carrying our functions using the University’s eLearning platform.

c) Software Services and Educational Technology Applications (SSETA) oversees all communication platforms and applications used by the University, and the administration needs of the University - such as the digital gradebook and the management of SRMS and HRMIS.

d) Infrastructure and IT Services (also referred to as the Centre for Information Technology, CIT) oversees the physical aspects and communication channels for the University by addressing connectivity, communication accounts, and maintaining a repository of software that the University’s communities use.

e) Client, Core Services, and Enterprise Support (CCSESu) oversees aspects relating to payments, refunds, and some types of accounting for the University. This unit also provides client services and support for students, faculty, and staff including management of repairs, rent-to own and loaners of systems and software to staff and students.

f) Educational Onlining Support Services (EDOSS) focuses on capacity building of faculty, staff, and students as they migrate to online mode. It currently works out of the University of Guyana’s Centre of Excellence for Teaching and Learning (CoETaL).

a) To develop and maintain the kind of integrated online architecture required, differs from year to year depending mainly on changes in annual licensing fees for over 20 items of necessary application, hosting, storage, cyber-security, records management, assessment, hardware, software, infrastructure, learning management, plagiarism and redundancy requirements to name a few.

b) To minimize these costs in addition to staffing, UG’s Tactical Online Services Unit builds many of the its applications in-house. This work is done mostly by graduates of the University of Guyana’s Computer Sciences Department and the Software Development Unit of TOSS.

c) Development has to be ongoing to keep up with rapid changes in ICT development such as AI and newer version applications etc.,

d) It should be noted that the online architecture does not only support students studying exclusively online or in blended mode, but ALL aspects of the University, including Library, Counselling, Research, Communication, Innovation and several other services.

e) The minimum cost annually is around G$200 million (US$1 million).

a) The University of Guyana in January 2024 has 9 countrywide campuses in 5 regions. It owns and operates 52 Buildings, including over 40 different kinds of laboratories. However, many of them require upgrading.

b) UGs now has around 11000 students and 1300 faculty members and staff.

c) About 3% of students are international. A similar number of staff are international. Some live in Guyana and some on a part-time basis are allowed since Covid whose classes are online to teach remotely.

d) UG graduates around 3200 students a year (since 2021)

e) UG offers over 150 different programmes in over 50 distinct disciplines.

f) Over its 60 year of existence UG has around 60, 000 alumni and has graduated just over 10,000
students in the last 3 years.

g) UG has prioritized training Guyanese so far, given its national mandate and until recently had not
focused on attracting international students.

h) UG has eight (8) Faculties (five are fully Science based) and eight (8) Research Institutes. (click
here (UGBlueprint: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hbeTXj9nkJWnWU7GNpHofXexcAdfHZu/view?… )
Click: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15GkmpN0n8MIpxyh9LwTqc2dbe2HraQrp/view?…

Click : https://youtu.be/kqbjIswRRi4

a) UG’s current staffing is not optimal but is manageable with room for improvement.

b) UG’s staffing tends to be stable since it has always been very fortunate to be served by dedicated committed staff who generally stay with the University for decades. Annual long service awards are testament to this. Annual turnover in all areas is less than 2% with the largest % of staff leaving mainly because of salaries - comparatively 300% lower than similar positions in the Caribbean. UG has been consistently training staff and losing some of them to the public sector, other regional and international institutions and recently like most of the country, the international private sector.

c) The recent injection through donor support for 31 new Full time staff with Doctoral degrees in UG in December 2023 has gone a far way in addressing some of the past Faculty needs, since there has been no internal capacity to fund training and research for a long time. This will now have a huge impact on all aspects of the University of Guyana’s operations. ( View more on this here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1veifOL2cfdIH-UW0_j1SzIiY-xJyVyyw/view?…)

d) There are two other smaller similar programmes underway supported by donors set to be completed in 2024 and 2025. This is part of a systematic programme to produce 100 PhDs in critical areas by 2025 which is the end of the first of 4 phases of UG’s Blueprint 2040.

e) In terms of performance, ALL levels of university staff are subject to annual staff reviews which revolve around academic credentials, teaching evaluations (done by students every semester), research output, national and international service. Renewal or extensions of contracts are based on these requirements and are decided upon by specific committees governed by the University Acts and Statutes.

The University of Guyana’s futuristic Blueprint 2020 to 2040 developed continuously through extensive collaboration with over 70 national and international stakeholders from 2018 to present is what drives its broad goals. Click here for a quick overview. (UGBlueprint: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hbeTXj9nkJWnWU7GNpHofXexcAdfHZu/view?… )

a) UG takes a strategic stakeholder-based approach to the creation and addition of new programmes.

b) As the largest and only National University in Guyana, UG receives and integrates written requests of the state, the private and public sectors along with industry research, its own surveys of students and prospective students and employers. UG also considers the advice of Faculty advisory boards, international and regional strategy documents and policies.

c) Additionally, as part of a respected global academic network, UG monitors very carefully how its offerings align with future trends and predictions of tertiary education, work and global labor force considerations.

d) Most importantly for its international accreditation and quality control purposes, The University must submit itself to systematic and periodic reviews of programmes and curriculum.

a) Since the 1990’s when a small fee was introduced, UG is funded through a mix of Government subvention (45% to 69%) since the subvention is not predictable. The rest is sometimes covered by Fees (35-40%) variable according to the number of students and their ability to pay and Research grants, services, and philanthropy (2-6%) which is also highly variable and unpredictable.

b) In 2024 UG’s projected budget is 10.5 billion Guyana.

c) Since 2020, UG submits its budgets projected for 5 years as well as its workplan and extensive budget narrative explaining each area of request as is required by the MoE.

a) The University of Guyana offers the best value for money in this region since its undergraduate degrees are amongst the lowest per credit in the world. The average undergraduate degree has been kept at the rough equivalent of US$1000 a year or US$31 dollars per credit per year; comparative to the lowest in its class US3500 a year or over US175 dollars per credit per year.

b) For the professional degrees of Law and Medicine the fees are US$1600 and US$5000 respectively a year.

c) For Masters and PhD degrees including medical and law degrees UG costs US$4000 to US$6000 a year or ten times less than the closest competitor in its class.

a) UG accepts payments via direct transfer and MMG

b) Students needing financial assistance can access Student Loans through the Government Loan Agency managed by the Ministry of Finance. They can also apply for PSM scholarships offered to UG students through the Ministry of the Presidency.

c) Starting 2023 UG grants 20 UG scholarships to students in the Caribbean, sportsmen and women in
Guyana as well as those with other special talents.

d) Students may also access flexible payment plans from the University based on conditions.

e) Scholarships with particular conditions may also be available from private citizens and companies.

f) The University has no formal information on a free education policy at the present moment.

a. Facilities and Maintenance Fees were introduced in 2014 since the government subventions and very low fees could not sustain the important needs of the University in particular the following

b. In 2021/22 the policy was revised to include the costs of online education, overseas travel for students on academic conferences, and the administration and costs for the new Students Complex at the Turkeyn Campus which is shared by over 30 student clubs and the Student Society (UGSS).

It should be noted that between 2020 and 2022, during the COVID period. These fees were relaxed in support of students.

a) UG’s degrees are accepted in most parts of the world and its alumni make up 80% of Guyana’s
Parliament and Government.

b) Graduates also hold very prestigious offices regionally and internationally and generally find jobs
based on their degrees in Guyana, regionally and worldwide. For instance, UG’s law graduates often graduate from Hugh Wooding Law School as the best graduating students, and in international competitions amongst the top 3, in medical school. UG has produced stellar graduates such as recently celebrated Amb Carolyn Rodrigues, only woman and first on the UN Security Council, Vidya Roopnauth Pfizer Virologist, Dr Lydia Guerra (Belize’s First Female Lieutenant Colonel) to only name a few. In 2021 and all UG team shocked the world by winning the international webby award.

c) However, no serious institution should ever rest on its laurels and claim to be totally satisfied with anything. This is not a perfecting and growth mindset. So, the University of Guyana sees room for improvement and seeks innovative ways to do better. There are some specific areas which require significant support for UG to reach the aspired world-class status.

a. UG’s has a leadership team of over 100 Officers (Directors, Deans, Assistant Deans, Heads and Coordinators) led by a Senior Management Team of 11 which includes the Vice Chancellor, three Deputy Vice Chancellors, Librarian, Registrar, Bursar and Directors of the Berbice Campus, Tactical Online Services Unit and the Institute for Distance and Continuing Education.

b. Since 2020, each of these officers has been subject to systematic and hyper- rigorous performance evaluation based on their approved KPI’s.

The University was established by the University of Guyana Act 1963 three years before Guyana gained
independence.