Plans to integrate technical institutes’ engineering courses with UG programmes

Last Updated on Tuesday, 1 April 2025, 23:03 by Writer

-College of Medical Sciences Building officially opened; Medical School regains accreditation

President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday announced that technical institutes across the country would be integrated with the University of Guyana (UG) to allow for the transfer of credits in engineering courses to the publicly-funded tertiary institution.

As part of the administration’s plans to elevate engineering training in Guyana, he said the government was examining ways of integrating the technical institutes on which billions of dollars were being spent annually with UG “so the credit transfers are integrated and it’s a smooth transition”.

Guyana has at least five technical institutes.

Addressing the opening ceremony for the College of Medical Sciences Building at UG’s Turkeyen Campus, Dr Ali also said Minister of Education Priya Manickchand was examining how UG and the Cyril Potter College of Education could use Guyana’s Digital School’s platform to train teachers from sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries. “We want to develop specialised degree programmes for our teachers throughout the region. (It) does not make sense for every small economy to make the same investment so how about if we work with our international partners in making this the training ground for all our teachers regionally and doing so using technology as the backbone so that you don’t lose your teachers from the classroom,” he said.

With more than GY$13 billion to be invested in having UG provide free education, the President said students would save US$150,000 in tuition fees compared to other universities in the Caribbean. “We are going to invest in the maximum standards, the highest standards so we’re not cutting cost or cutting corners to deliver that free education,” he said.

The President said the practice of medicine, nursing and pharmacology would be standardised because they are being trained at one institution and at a higher platform that would make them “globally competitive”.

He charged students of UG’s Medical College to produce high-quality papers, and be part of an international network “in which we can punch pound for pound” and position Guyana as a leader.

UG Deputy Vice Chancellor, Dr Emmanuel Cummings recalled that the institution’s Medical School lost its accreditation because the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) cited the need for a major review of the curriculum of the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme, inadequate classrooms and laboratories.

He said there was a recent site visit and the programme is now accredited for four years. The College has anatomy, bi0chemistry, research and microbiology laboratories.

With assistance from the World Bank, the building was constructed, 40 lecturers were trained at the University of Michigan in teaching and assessment, and an assessment programme has been implemented.

UG Vice Chancellor, Professor Paloma Mohammed-Martin said the new building allows the institution to admit 40 percent more applicants to the medical programme. She said the new dental clinic needs three vital labs, classrooms and offices.

She said the new building has its own water treatment plant, power plant, and touchless lavatories.

Health Minister, Dr Doctor Frank Anthony said the six new hospitals that would be opened across Guyana would supplement the hospital bed requirements by CAAM-HP to place medical students. “Beds should no longer be a problem and that should not be a constraining factor in terms of the amount of students that we recruit to our programme.”

He expects the number of students to increase from 65 to more than 120 to power the health sector that government is planning. “We have to scale up to train more doctors,” he said.

He said more than 3,000 nurses were being trained. This month, 800 nursing assistants would be graduating to provide healthcare.