 ug must guard against overproducing graduates vicechancellor ug must guard against overproducing graduates vicechancellor ug must guard against overproducing graduates vicechancellor webmaster tue 9192017 1116 the university of guyana ug has been warned to be very careful with the amount of degree programmes it offers to complement guyana s emerging oil andgas industry this is according to vicechancellor dr ivelaw griffith who said taking the professional recommendation into consideration the university will be offering less degree programmes and more short courses in the field in fact he said what is actually needed at this time is more technical skills which are being taught at the technical institutes speaking with the guyana chronicle professor griffith said what is needed for the energy sector is definitely not what has been initially touted it is technical skills it is persons coming out of the technical institutes so we have to strike a balance between investing methodically enough so that we do not overproduce he said there have been much talks about guyana s level of preparedness as it moves to embrace the new sector which will undoubtedly transform the country s economy the concerns were particularly over what role the premier tertiary institution could play in paving the way for the country in managing the oilandgas sector ug chancellor dr nigel harris had previously sounded a warning that the university had better be prepared for the sector with new and innovative programmes but new information reaching the institution suggests that there is much more than programmes that needs to be pursued the advice has come from several quarters particularly from universities in oil producing countries those institutions have been doubling up on their programmes over time griffith said an adviser from the university of the west indies uwi st augustine campus said that institution made the very mistake with the energy degree programmes it offered only to later find out that the absorptive market was not there thin line  we have got to walk a thin line between starting programmes getting a good idea of what is needed here and elsewhere and in partnership with other universities do things that are better suited griffith said in that regard he said ug is actively pursuing partnerships with several universities including uwi and the university of trinidad and tobago utt which have very robust oilandgas programmes i signed a memorandum of understanding with the university of the west indies in july we will use that mou as a part of ramping up the partnership with the uwi campus he said he said he will soon be leading a mission to the utt and the uwi to find out how they can partner to address guyana s peculiar situation the vc said it is quite clear that most of what the country needs for the oiland gas sector cannot be answered by the university at this time he said ug is however beginning conversations with its local partners including the ministry of natural resources it has also taken a strategy for the short courses to the school of entrepreneurship and engineering developing partnerships  we recognise that some of what they need we don t have and we can t pretend to have them overnight so we are developing partnerships he told the guyana chronicle the vice chancellor said as guyana braces itself for the oil and gas sector several questions must be answered including what skills would the sector need whether the university has the teaching resources to deliver the skills needed and the economic question given what the needs are whether the university would be better off doing some things in partnership with other institutions there is no sense pretending we don t have what will be needed in the next year or two so we have to find partnerships so yes we have begun those conversations griffith said chancellor nigel harris had last year said that us oil and gas company exxon mobil had approached the university and was enquiring about its current arrangement for an industry that is likely to place the country s economy on another level he had promised to arrange for assistance from the university of the west indies uwi according to harris uwi has been training petroleum engineers and other persons in the industry for the past four decades it may be that the ug may not be able to provide all the staff they need so we are planning to link the university of guyana with other international institutions i will be pushing for links with uwi it does not make sense that we have the nextdoor neighbours and not take advantage of the programmes professor harris had promised article adapted from  http guyanachroniclecom 20170918 ugmustguardoverproducinggraduatesvicechancellor vicechancellor oil gas 