GOAL to know fate of deal with University of Staffordshire this week

Last Updated on Wednesday, 5 March 2025, 23:21 by Writer

The Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), which is offering Guyanese an opportunity to pursue studies at the United Kingdom’s (UK)  publicly-funded University of Staffordshire, would know the fate of that agreement with a London-based intermediate agency.

“Come Thursday, either we can cancel or we continue so either the partnership continues or the partnership is terminated so the value of the programme will not be affected at all. There won’t be any flexibility at all so it’s either the partnership stays or goes,” Head of GOAL, Professor Jacob Opadeyi told Demerara Waves Online News. If the relationship with Staffordshire comes to an end, he said GOAL would “take care of our students” through other institutions.

Dr Opadeyi said the first batch of about 1,000 Guyanese students of the University of Staffordshire have been affected by the decision of that university’s new leadership to end its relationship with the intermediate agency, the International Skill Development Corporation (ISDC). “Staffordshire and ISDC they have an agreement and something went on wrong with the agreement. The agreement is that they offer their programme through ISDC, both of them are accredited, and there was a change of management at Staffordshire who did not like the agreement,” said Professor Opadeyi, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana.

The privately-owned Stabroek News newspaper reported on Wednesday that it and students had received correspondence from the University of Staffordshire that there was no relationship with GOAL or ISDC. “We would like to make you aware that courses currently displayed on GOAL Academy website, in association with ISDC, are not authorised by University of Staffordshire and we are actively investigating this matter. If you have enrolled or are considering enrolling in one of these courses, we strongly recommend that you contact ISDC or GOAL directly for further clarification. The following courses advertised on the GOAL website are not authorised by University of Staffordshire.”

Asked if ISDC should have informed GOAL if there was now a one-month old problem, he said that agency maintained that there was none because there is a legal agreement between the two parties. He said ISDC was “wrong” by failing to inform GOAL that there was a problem and instead hoping that it would have ended. “This is what let us to finding out from Staffordshire that there is a problem,” he said.

Dr Opadeyi said he has hard copy documentation from the University of Staffordshire about its provision of academic programmes through GOAL during a visit to the UK. “They (Staffordshire) wrote me. When this whole thing started, I was in Staffordshire University physically with ISDC. The three parties sat down together and I have a letter they wrote me about the agreement,” he said.

He said ISDC informed him that it efforts were underway to try to resolve the issue with the University of Staffordshire by Thursday. If the relationship could not be salvaged, he said students would be shifted to other institutions. The Head of GOAL believed the issue was centered on percentage share between ISDC and the University of Staffordshire. “In my little knowledge, when things like that happen, there is usually money that has to be charged,” he said.

The Head of  GOAL said there were no other problems between ISDC and the more than 20 universities and institutions. He assured past graduates and current students through GOAL that they do not need to worry about the value of their programmes.