| – situation could impact operationsEven as plans are being finalised for the reopening of the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen Campus later this month, it has been revealed that the university will not be operating at full capacity in terms of staff, a situation which has the potential of affecting the administration process as well as the delivery of lectures to students.At least, this was the observation made by Chairman of the University of Guyana Workers’ Union, Bruce Haynes.His remarks came during a press conference held at the Turkeyen campus yesterday.And, according to him, the limited staffing capacity is rooted in the fact that there has been a temporary freeze on the appointment of additional staff, primarily in the administrative arena.He disclosed that there have been a lot of vacancies at the level of the administration which have not been filled, and this, as a result, means that members of staff have to carry an additional load.He said that the decision to halt the recruitment of staffers was taken at the level of council, since it was believed that certain available monies should not be utilised for such purposes.“They felt that there are vacancies that are not being filled and there are monies that are not being used, so they decided that the money must not be allocated for the purpose of filling administrative vacancies.”And while there is a similar trend among the academic staff, Haynes said, the extent is yet to be determined.There have been reports that the delivery of lectures at the university is being challenged by a shortage of staff, some of whom have left the system either through resignation or retirement.But according to Mr Al Creighton, he is not aware that the loss of staff has been of any unusual proportion.“It can be described as the normal round of resignations and a loss of valuable staff,” said Creighton when he was asked to quantify the loss of lecturers.He further pointed out that the university has already taken steps to replace the staffers, adding that the new academic year will see a number of new faces on staff.However,Cheap Jerseys, he did note that the university, on an annual basis, is confronted with staffing problems, which results in the difficulties in offering some courses.“Sometimes we have a hard time running certain courses which call for a certain degree of specialisation when staff resign or retire…”Creighton was unable to determine if such a problem would arise during the new academic year. “We are hoping that we could run them all. I know there have been cutbacks on courses to suit the staff,” he relayed.The Berbice campus, according to Creighton, which is often faced with such challenges, has however not raised such an alarm since its commencement for the new academic year on September 1, 2008. |
