 the university of guyana has legal and moral standing to confer honorary doctorate degrees the university of guyana has legal and moral standing to confer honorary doctorate degrees the university of guyana has legal and moral standing to confer honorary doctorate degrees webmaster mon 9032018 2105 the university of guyana takes this opportunity to respond to the article by freddie kissoon titled dr mark kirton is livid confused and wants to know what s going on carried in the kaieteur news on august 29 2018 in the article the university of guyana s right to confer honorary doctorate degrees was questioned reference was made to a recent announcement by vicechancellor and principal of the university professor ivelaw lloyd griffith that the institution will be conferring honorary doctorate degrees at the university s 2018 convocation in addressing this issue it must be noted that the practice of granting honorary degrees including honorary doctorates dates to the middle ages the title of honorary doctor is bestowed on a recipient as an honour without the usual requirements or functions such as matriculation a dissertation and the passing of examinations the purpose of honorary awards is to recognise individuals of distinction who have made a significant contribution to a university a nation or to society in general an award is designed both to recognise the individual as well as enhance the reputation of the university however the bone of contention in the article appears to be how can ug offer three honorary doctorates when ug never offered even one doctoral programme in its entire existence fact check at present the university offers the doctor of philosophy in biodiversity phd in the faculty of earth and environmental sciences in partnership with the faculty of agriculture and forestry and the faculty of natural sciences this programme was approved by the university s academic board in 2015 before the arrival of vicechancellor griffith and the class comprises students from belize fiji jamaica suriname and guyana notwithstanding that fact a university does not have to be a doctoral granting institution to confer honorary doctorate degrees for instance within the past two 2 years at least two 2 universities in the caribbean conferred honorary doctorate degrees while not offer academic doctoral programmes according to the websites of those institutions on july 24 2017 the university of the commonwealth caribbean in jamaica conferred the honorary doctor of business administration on gary hendrickson ceo of continental baking co ltd in jamaica in recognition of his achievements in business and industry further on july 1 2018 the university of the southern caribbean in trinidad and tobago conferred an honorary doctor of humane letters on dr walter bt douglas for his dedication to christian education it is important to note that the university of guyana act which dates to 1963 in the section that pertains to the power to confer degrees 18 e grants the university the legal authority to confer honorary degrees and other distinctions provided that all degrees and other distinctions so conferred shall be conferred and held subject to any provision which are or may be made in reference thereto by the university additionally the university s statutes at statute 15 which deals with powers of the academic board states the academic board shall be the academic authority of the university and shall have the control and general direction of research instruction and examination and of the award of degrees certificates and other distinctions further that statute vests the academic board with the power to make recommendations to the council with respect to the award to any person of an honorary fellowship or honorary degree or title of professor emeritus thus in the context of the authority conferred by law and the university s statutes the university plans to confer its first honorary doctoral degrees this coming november the article also makes spurious claims about the laboratories of the faculty of engineering and technology the public should note that this faculty and the faculty of natural sciences have been the beneficiaries of an infusion of funds within the last three years through a world bankfunded project called the university of guyana science and technology support project ugstsp the project had three enhancement components namely curriculum reform rehabilitation of buildings and the acquisition of a significant amount of stateoftheart laboratory equipment for the various departments additionally substantial funds from the recentlyimplemented learning resource facility fees were used to purchase laboratory equipment works in this regard are ongoing additionally contrary to the misinformation in the freddie kissoon article the university also offers a number of master s degree programmes at the 2017 convocation masters degrees were awarded in the following 10 disciplines education anaesthesia and intensive care emergency medicine internal infectious disease obstetrics and gynaecology paediatrics public health forest biology business administration and public administration moreover during the current academic year one master s degree will be offered in orthopaedics and traumatology and one in petroleum engineering in collaboration with the university of the west indies st augustine campus the public is invited to visit the university s website  wwwuogedugy  or facebook page to keep abreast with developments at the university sincerely public relations division the university of guyana turkeyen campus greater georgetown tel 2225402  