 ug administration welcomes audit ug administration welcomes audit webmaster tue 4232019 1456 the ministry of education in a recent letter to the university of guyana ug council advised the institution of a request made to the auditor general s office to conduct a special audit of the university s finances following a request by the unions at ug in commenting on this development in the industrial relations at the university vicechancellor professor ivelaw lloyd griffith said the administration welcomes the opportunity to clear the air on the allegations and assertions by the unions and other individuals he added we have long indicated such both directly to the ug unions and in my two recent memoranda to the university community in january 2019 the administration told the two unions that the institution was not in a position to pay further salary increases for 2018 having paid a four percent salary increase to academic staff and three percent to nonacademic staff both taxfree in december 2018 on february 13 2019 in an update to the members of the ug community on the industrial climate at turkeyen and the call by the unions for a forensic financial audit the vice chancellor noted that the administration is willing to have its financial position examined by any competent and independent arbiter following the unions resumption of picketing at turkeyen on march 15 vicechancellor griffith in a further update to the ug community reiterated the administration s willingness to have an audit done by an independent arbiter he also indicated that the administration had decided to turn the dispute over to the labour department for conciliation the current impasse follows the initiative by prochancellor major gen ret joseph singh to facilitate some listening sessions with the unions and the administration by a threemember panel of the university council and the vicechancellor s march 8 invitation to meet with the unions to resume the negotiations proved futile the ug administration holds the view that talks with the unions should not focus exclusively on salaries that performance and a collective bargaining agreement also should be discussed meanwhile the administration is awaiting a response from the unions to its weeksold request for several documents as part of efforts to be consistent in the pursuit of accountability and transparency the documents sought include their articles of association certificates of recognition statements of income and expenditure for recent years and recent annual returns and audited statements ug in brief with a current enrollment of some 8000 students the university of guyana ug has graduated more than 20000 students who have gone on to successful careers locally regionally and internationally the university is also a major contributor to the national economy and to business and industry established in 1963 on a parttime basis with shared space at queens college ug moved to its own campus at turkeyen in 1970 and expanded in 2000 with the addition of the tain campus it now offers more than 120 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes including the natural sciences engineering environmental studies forestry urban planning and management tourism studies education creative arts economics law medicine optometry and nursing several online programmes are available and the ug also offers extramural classes at four locations through its institute of distance and continuing education idce the ug also offers the opportunity for student engagement in debating sports and cultural religious and professional activities ug administration welcomes audit  