a) UG’s current staffing is not optimal but is manageable with room for improvement. 

b) UG’s staffing tends to be stable since it has always been very fortunate to be served by dedicated committed staff who generally stay with the University for decades. Annual long service awards are testament to this. Annual turnover in all areas is less than 2% with the largest % of staff leaving mainly because of salaries - comparatively 300% lower than similar positions in the Caribbean. UG has been consistently training staff and losing some of them to the public sector, other regional and international institutions and recently like most of the country, the international private sector.

c) The recent injection through donor support for 31 new Full time staff with Doctoral degrees in UG in December 2023 has gone a far way in addressing some of the past Faculty needs, since there has been no internal capacity to fund training and research for a long time. This will now have a huge impact on all aspects of the University of Guyana’s operations. ( View more on this here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1veifOL2cfdIH-UW0_j1SzIiY-xJyVyyw/view?usp=drive_link)

d) There are two other smaller similar programmes underway supported by donors set to be completed in 2024 and 2025. This is part of a systematic programme to produce 100 PhDs in critical areas by 2025 which is the end of the first of 4 phases of UG’s Blueprint 2040.

e) In terms of performance, ALL levels of university staff are subject to annual staff reviews which revolve around academic credentials, teaching evaluations (done by students every semester), research output, national and international service. Renewal or extensions of contracts are based on these requirements and are decided upon by specific committees governed by the University Acts and Statutes.
