 us based philanthropist gives back big time pumps 80million into stateoftheart research centre at ug us based philanthropist gives back big time pumps 80million into stateoftheart research centre at ug 80m donated for behavioural studies centre at ug webmaster fri 4272018 19 the name jay and sylvia sobhraj centre for behavioral studies and research centre will soon be emblazoned on a stateoftheart facility at the university of guyana turkeyen campus jay sobhraj a guyanese born united states based philanthropist has pumped a significant grant of 80000000 to establish the stateoftheart behavioural study research and multipurpose centre in place of the old canteen building the facility will house a bookstore food court model counselling centre student gym and prayer rooms it will also have an extended medex station and cater to various programmes including psychology social work criminology and psychiatry the funding is being provided through the jay and sylvia sobhraj foundation jay sobhraj one of the founders of the charitable organisation said his education was made possible through grants and he is grateful that he is now in a position to give back to his homeland we have to take care of our motherland sobhraj declared an enthusiastic and deeply grateful vice chancellor prof ivelaw griffith said that discussions had been ongoing for a year this is not only a signally important milestone along rebranding and rebuilding but it testifies to our recognition of the essential purpose of our being to enhance the ability of our students to come in and get experience prof griffith said philanthropy requires cultivation and time the vc pointed out as he expressed gratitude to the foundation for making such a significant contribution to ug developing and expanding its curriculum the centre will provide a location for the new psychology programme which the university will start in march 2018 and which is being funded by united nations international children s fund unicef the new research facility will complement the mental health department which was established by the ministry of public health the department is currently training mental health practitioners to work with mentally challenged persons over 100 such practitioners have been trained to date article adapted from  http dpigovgy usbasedphilanthropistgivesbackbigtimepumps80millio  jay and sylvia sobhraj foundation behavioral studies and research centre 