 ug to release blueprint to guide 20 years of development says new vice chancellor ug to release blueprint to guide 20 years of development says new vice chancellor dominicbraam wed 6102020  by shaquille bourne  author at the department of public information   reveals plans for coming year dpi guyana wednesday june 10 2020 a 2040 blueprint that will dictate the transformative growth of the university of guyana will shortly be released spearheading this new era of development for the tertiary institution is ug s first female vicechancellor vc and change strategist professor paloma mohamedmartin in a zoom interview with dpi professor mohamedmartin outlined the main areas of change that the ug will experience over the next year according to the vicechancellor one critical component is the strengthening of the institution s financial systems that work has already begun in terms of digitising modernising our software and finishing the audits that we ve started the vc outlined retraining and hiring of staff with varying capacities have similarly bolstered this area of focus she noted additionally the vicechancellor highlighted a situation that has grasped her attention one that she intends to change my biggest peeve at the university since i got there was the low salaries that we pay to not only our academic staff but other staff this is a huge problem not because of the money only but because of what it allows us to do and who it allows us to buy the she explained professor mohamedmartin was adamant that if ug intends to pursue the course of being a sciencedriven university the institution will need scholars with doctoral degrees for this to be possible the vicechancellor maintained salaries must be raised still on the topic of the academic staff the she noted those already in the system must be balanced with imported staff the vc confirmed we have already begun to train 20 phds in the sciences and they will come out in the next 3 years while staff are being trained the university will continue with its research chair programme professor mohamedmartin noted this programme is one in which academics at ug would be groomed by visiting researchers the ugbased academics would in turn lead their own research agenda after approximately 3 years another area that will receive attention is the improvement of the university s support system for students the vc acknowledged the student support services along with the quality assurance for students have been limited as the students association has reached its limit we are putting some energy into expanding students services student care as well as tracking them all the way and supporting them all through alumni and the first years of their alumni further the vice chancellor assured that the security of the institution will be given more attention this includes not only physical and cybersecurity but upgrades to sanitation as well already a project to revamp turkeyen s campus sewage system is underway professor paloma mohamedmartin succeeds professor ivlaw griffith whose tenure ended in 2019 the new vicechacnellor served as chair of the university s transitional management committee and deputy vicechancellor responsible for philanthropy alumni and civic engagement pace the vc was appointed on tuesday  by chancellor edward green  source   https dpigovgy ugtoreleaseblueprinttoguide20yearsofdevelopmentsay  ug to release blueprint to guide 20 years of development says new vice chancellor  