 ug s idce leads the way in providing equal access to quality education irrespective of persons geographical location ug s idce leads the way in providing equal access to quality education irrespective of persons geographical location andydindial wed 4142021 1338 the university of guyana s institute of distance and continuing education idce is leading the way with fulfilling the university s forwardthinking vision of ensuring one graduate per guyanese household by 2040 just recently the institute churned out 643 graduates in several disciplines who are all now fully equipped with skills needed to join the local workforce or will further their studies in their chosen fields in the last of five virtual graduation ceremonies held in march the graduates from five centres spread across guyana georgetown anna regina new amsterdam linden and for the first time bartica were praised for staying the course and successfully completing their studies amidst a global pandemic those graduated included 383 from georgetown 74 from berbice 127 from linden 12 from bartica and 47 from anna regina the courses pursued by the graduates included project management online supervisory management online occupational health safety seminar course proficiency in mathematics early childhood education care for the elderly industrial relations and management general law food and nutrition information technology among others this is in addition to those idce students who had completed degree and diploma programmes and graduated in earlier ceremonies along with the others from the university s turkeyen and berbice campuses registrar of the university of guyana dr nigel gravesande noted that the idce has been at the forefront of promulgating the university s development agenda in keeping with its mission which is to provide equal access to quality education to individuals and groups irrespective of geographical location vicechancellor xi prof paloma mohamed in her remarks applauded the graduates noting that they had risen as the cream of the crop in difficult times which serves as a testament to their resilience prof mohamed expressed that the pandemic was unpredictable however the university had already begun thinking about the design of the university s future its accessibility more inclusiveness and to be more relevant to persons across the country as a result she said four aspirational goals were discussed the first of which entailed idce our first aspirational goal was to have one graduate per household why for the most part of the world the science tells us that a graduate or a person who even enters a university is the best prognosis for success for a family for a community and of course if you have a whole lot of these people for your country the vc said the vc noted that guyana is on the brink of tremendous opportunities but citizens will not be able to benefit if they are not fully ready and thus the role of the university of guyana as the only state university is to equip guyanese with the necessary skills to be ready the vc thanked idce director dr jacqueline murray and staff for adequately implementing the initiatives being taken in terms of expanding the reach of the idce programmes across the country and for increasing the number of courses being offered she also congratulated the five valedictorians darica thompson linden keshia hamid berbice verina singhrasheed anna regina niola fiedtkou bartica and shontell coggins georgetown in her comments singhrasheed encouraged her colleagues to embrace change and adapt to the new environment we took the step to engage in the courses here at the idce because we realized that where we were where we wanted to be and what was changing around us meant that we too needed to do something we needed to better equip ourselves if we were going to push forward in the rapidly developing world around us so today i would like to base my message on that of us being service providers we all understand that having a business or skill and using it to earn is all about being a service provider as we approach the end of our journey together ask yourselves what makes you a great service provider she added hamid who topped the berbice centre also commended her colleagues who persevered throughout the pandemic to achieve their milestone at the beginning of this journey we were optimistic and had a clear picture of our destination although we expected challenges nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to face today is proof of our perseverance to accomplish this milestone working hard is vital in achieving your goals we are graduates of the university of guyana s institute of distance and continuing education people who are intelligent and resourceful and contribute significantly to today s everchanging world we may not yet fully comprehend the value of all the things we have learned here but recognize that if we do the things we are capable of we would astound ourselves hamid added idce director dr jacqueline murray in her remarks assured that the institute is committed to providing equal access to quality education to individuals and groups irrespective of geographical location she noted that since its establishment on january 2 1976 the idce has delivered a menu of continuing education personal and professional development programmes across the country the idce caters for a wide crosssection of persons ranging from ages 16 and above the unemployed including out of school youths are also given a chance to upgrade academically or technically with the aim of creating jobs for themselves making themselves job ready or to pursue higher education additionally the institute caters for persons already employed regarding their professional development and to pursue higher education for a full listing of programmes and courses being offered by idce visit  https idceuogedugy   contact   jainarine deonauth ma public relations unit 6235104 department of events conferences and communications decc    ug in brief the university of guyana is the 58th year state university of guyana it offers 136 programmes in over 60 disciplines online and facetoface in 8 campuses across guyana with a student population of now 10000 ug has provided education learning and research for over 50000 alumni the mission of the university is to discover generate disseminate and apply knowledge of the highest standard for the service of the community the nation and of all mankind within an atmosphere of academic freedom that allows for free and critical inquiry ug s forward thinking blueprint 2040 is currently setting the course for the university s future design and institutional response to the changing needs of guyana ug s idce leads the way in providing equal access to quality education irrespective of persons geographical location  