 ug sets the record straight ug sets the record straight ug sets the record straight webmaster mon 12312018 1821  amidst talks of illpreparation for oil gas the university of guyana ug has affirmed that it is taking measures to ensure students of guyana can become prepared for the emerging oil and gas industry tenth vicechancellor and principal of the university of guyana professor dr ivelaw lloyd griffith highlighted recently that the university has announced courses specific to the industry since july 2018 the flyer posted earlier this year in july announcing some of ug s measures to prepare students for the oil and gas industry griffith made his comments at the heels of contentions made by former government member of parliament mp charrandas persaud there is no programme at the university to deal or to educate the youngsters you the youngsters in oil and gas persaud said in a recent video of himself posted online the former mp stated further that come 2020 when the production of oil is expected to begin the country will require more than just the cleanup man job and the labourer job instead he posited that a skilled workforce is required setting the record straight dr griffith stated contrary to what was claimed recently as part of our nation s high political drama ug has been preparing for first oil and beyond for more than a year now on his facebook page professor griffith said in july of this year this flyer which announced the introduction of the programmes was published in the local newspapers posted to facebook and still is available on the ug website these programmes include an associate degree in science petroleum engineering and a master s degree in science petroleum engineering and will be offered in conjunction with the university of the west indies uwi and the university of trinidad and tobago utt earlier this year the university announced that the two programmes would be launched in january 2019 at a symposium which will feature principal of uwi st augustine professor brian copeland who is also the former dean of the faculty of engineering at the uwi in addition to the offering of these two programmes the university has also made fundamental changes to its faculty to facilitate the focus on preparing students for the industry the university s faculty of technology has been renamed the faculty of engineering and technology within this faculty a department of petroleum and geological engineering is also expected to come on stream in january 2019 and in november ug alongside several other postsecondary education institutions began the process of establishing a higher education consortium on engineering and mining hecem which is intended to guide education and professional development training for guyana s energy and extractive industries including the oil and gas sector while the former afc mp persaud lamented that little is being done to prepare guyanese especially the youth for the emerging industry griffith reminded that ug has been in fact facilitating this preparation persaud voted for the noconfidence motion brought against the coalition government recently in the video he posted on his facebook page he highlighted several issues including ug s illpreparation which caused him to lose confidence in the government  