The University of Guyana (UG) is enhanced by 31 of its faculty members who graduated in December 2023 with their PhDs and Ed.Ds through an Advanced Scholars Funded Programme. In a statement, UG said the scholars who are from across eight faculties and several service units are already back on campus carrying out teaching, research and administrative functions. The Advanced Scholars Programme which began in the 2018/2019 academic year and funded by the ExxonMobil Foundation was developed by the UG in a close collaboration with Arizona State University. The project also funded three master’s students. Six more doctoral scholars are expected to complete in the coming months.
The project was designed by then UG Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof. Paloma Mohamed Martin and Prof Gary Dirks of Arizona State University in the United States primarily to increase the number of teaching staff at the University who had terminal degrees (doctorates), by 30% by 2024, and to power up UG’s research capacity.
Mohamed Martin, now Vice Chancellor has said the programme is “a blessing to the University, our students and the country, since it will immediately increase the research output of the University, the quality of teaching, and also the fundamental levels of administration and service. This experience for these dedicated staff was meant to be more than an academic exercise. It was an experiential one which was critical to operating UG’s Blueprint 2040. This goal has been achieved.”
Dirks says “the programme with UG was absolutely critical to ensuring that The University of Guyana is able to deal with the tsunami of developments which are about to descend upon the country. I was honoured to be part of this very, very important moment for UG and Guyana.”
The programme focused on action research on key problems located in all 10 regions of Guyana as well as the UG itself as a community of interest. Dissertations on sustainable agriculture and forestry, energy, education and indigenous communities, water and pollution, biodiversity, chemical and mechanical innovations and technologies, computing, labour economics, education, educational administration and support systems to name a few, were produced over 4 intense years of study and research.
Scholars under the project have so far published over 60 research papers. Two books and a conference on their work are currently in preparation and the project itself is being studied as a model system for rapid results use of the academy in sustainable development. The University of Guyana will be featuring one scholar and their work every week starting February 2024.
The UG has expressed congratulations to its scholars and their academic support teams, thanking the ASU, ExxonMobil Foundation, campus’ support team, including others who contributed, covered teaching and administrative duties for their colleagues while they pursued their studies.
A full report on this project could be reviewed here:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1veifOL2cfdIH-UW0_j1SzIiY-xJyVyyw/view?usp=drive_link
