 ug s university of the forest campus ug s university of the forest campus ug s university of the forest campus webmaster wed 6262024 1636 massive step for the indigenous communities in guyana regionally as university of guyana south rupununi district council and the aishalton village council ink agreement for joint establishment of maoka taawa university of the forests campus university of guyana turkeyen campus june 25 2024 university of guyana s maoka taawa university of the forests campus in aishalton it will stand before the majestic and mystical paint mountain a oneofakind a marvel a monument to intelligence and a testament to the persistent and persevering knowledge of a people our people maoka taawa university of the forests in a series of three simple but highly significant events in the indigenous village of aishalton a sixteenyearold dream of our indigenous brothers and sisters in the south rupununi made a massive step to becoming a reality seven of nine village toshao along with a number of high level officials from the 21 villages of the south rupununi district regions as well as officials from the university of guyana s oldest campus in turkeyen georgetown gathered to witness the signing of a historic and monumental document and the turning of the sod which officially brought into legal life the agreement to create the university of guyana s maoka taawa university of the forests campus this blended campus of the university will serve the 21 communities of the south rupununi which is closer to the brazilian border than georgetown as well as other indigenous communities in proximity the joint venture between the university of guyana the south rupununi district council srdc and aishalton village council is a landmark action since it vests equal but diverse responsibilities for the resourcing management and sustainability of the project in all three signatories and fifty students will be accepted from the 254 who have indicated early interest the phased model which is being developed is based on a small physical footprint and an innovative incremental microcredit academic structure initial focus will be upon both professions and vocations for livelihoods creating opportunities for a better life through education and training of their people is a key part of the project michael thomas former toshao of aishalton village who chaired the proceedings on saturday told the packed village benab that the srdc had created a key place for education in its village development plans since 2008 but had not gotten much traction until about a year ago when a delegation of 5 toshaos travelled to ug s turkeyen campus to float their idea to the university thomas kid james toshao ronald young ug graduate and now toshaotimoty williams along with two other toshao were integral to the recent yearlong negotiations with the university through the office of the vicechancellor prof paloma mohamed martin vicechancellor prof paloma mohamed martin said when they showed up in my office i could not imagine what five 5 toshaos could want but it soon became evident that they were clear my main contribution was to listen and then to ask one question why a field station why not a campus and that was it they basically drove it from there very fast through all the processes of navigating village consensus legal and titling issues to my team it was a godsent opportunity to really enable ug s aspirational goal of at least one graduate per household this is a massively important moment for many reasons it is one of the universally powerful projects minimalist but much good we will do the best we can for them with the little we have the ug investigating task force for university of the forests included vicechancellor prof paloma mohamed martin dr gyanpriya maharaj former director of ug centre for biological diversity calvin bernard director for ug s institute for marine and river ecologies and economies shevion sears tara smith shomari williams and monica hugh they were joined by deputy vicechancellor for finance and administration dr diana gobin and dr malcolm williams director of ug s tactical online services unit toshao of the aishalton timoty williams said his entire energy and focus over the past year was to help make this happen along with other key persons education is what we have yearned for we know it s the key to everything this is a historic and proud moment for us i am privileged to be part of it please see this link for audio visual materials of the inaugurating activities click here to follow video links for full proceedings  https drivegooglecom file d 12po7tr3f7nsyoyri7gdb0lj8wgvl37w view  links to photos  https drivegooglecom drive folders 16dfr  t4uwjbfaktkao54gzgptjcjb8y usp sharing about the university of guyana the university of guyana the national university of guyana now in its 60th year was founded in october 1963 three years before guyana became independent ug as it is fondly referred to offers over 160 distinct programmes in over 60 disciplines from certificates diplomas associate degrees bachelor s degrees master s degrees to phd s these programmes are offered online facetoface or in blended formats ug delivers through a guyanabased system across eight campuses this includes its 35yearold communitybased institute for distance and continuing education idce and the second major campus at tain in berbice celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2025 the university of guyana s student population is over 11000 through its 8 academic divisions including an accredited college of medical sciences school of entrepreneurship and business innovation and the faculty of earth and environmental sciences which is ranked 5 globally ug has provided education training and research for over 60000 alumni over its 60year history with significant national and global impact other faculties include the faculty of engineering and technology the faculty of agriculture and forestry the faculty of natural sciences the college of behavioural sciences and research the faculty of education and humanities and the faculty of social sciences the university is also home to 10 research institutes including the internationally important centre for biodiversity the institute for food and nutrition security the institute for research innovation and entrepreneurship the institute for energy diplomacy the green institute the institute for human resiliency strategic security and the future and the international centre for excellence in early childhood education the mission of the university of guyana is to discover generate disseminate and apply knowledge of the highest standard for the advancement of communities the nation and mankind within an atmosphere of academic freedom transparent accountability pragmatic innovation and universal respect ug s forwardthinking blueprint 2040 is currently setting the course for the university s future design and institutional response to the changing needs of guyana the region and the world ug is currently celebrating its 60th anniversary with a renewed focus on becoming the leading teaching and research university in guyana visit ug at wwwuogedugy  contact mrs krest petty public relations officer department of events conferences and communication decc office of the vicechancellor university of guyana turkeyen campus 5926235104 or ms shevon nedd assistant public relations officer department of events conferences and communication decc office of the vicechancellor university of guyana turkeyen campus 5926203730 end  