| While students in general are affected by ongoing industrial action at the University of Guyana (UG), from all indications the administration of the tertiary institution, has not given much thought to its impact on non-residentFrom left: UGSS President, Joshua Griffith, and UGSS Council Representative, Elsie Harry.and non-national students.The dilemma faced by the students has however, not escaped the attention of the University of Guyana Students Society (UGSS) which is tasked with representing the interest of students. At a press conference convened by the UGSS in the Turkeyen Campus’ Education Lecture Theatre on Tuesday, Council Representative, Elsie Harry sought to highlight the current plight of the students.Harry, a non-resident student who hails from St Kitts,Adidas Deerupt Pas Cher, said that since the commencement of industrial action at UG, she has heard talks from the Administration about measures to account for (lecture) time that has been lost. This week marks four since the industrial action started, a situation that developed from a breakdown of negotiations for better salaries and other benefits for workers, between the University’s Negotiating Team and the workers’ unions – The University of Guyana Senior Staff Association and the University of Guyana Workers Union.But while there has been talks aimed at addressing how lost time will be accounted for, Harry said that she has not once heard talks in the interest of non-resident and non-national students.And according to her, discussions in this regard are important since “these students account for five to 10 per cent of the University’s population.”Currently, one of the measures being touted by the UG Administration to counter the time lost is an extension of the semester. But according to Harry, if the semester is extended, non-resident and non-national students who have not migrated here, but rather are here for the purpose of attending the University, will more than likely incur tremendous costs.These costs, she noted, could range from rent to utilities. Students residing at the NBS dormitory situated on the grounds of the Turkeyen Campus are required to pay a rent that amounts to $10, 000 per month, while those residing at nearby locations such as in Cummings Lodge must pay rents from $15,000 to $50,000. “Our families do not have the luxury of simply refinancing their lives and their budgets to send us more money to account for the time that the administration and the staff are taking to iron out their issues,” observed Harry.She claims to have heard those within the Administration saying “we are waiting to see how long the lecturers will hold out. They are saying that the situation has not reached a point where we need to take drastic measures to have the situation return to normalcy,” said Harry of the Administration. She however noted, that for a non-resident student like herself and other non-national students the situation has reached dire proportions. “The extra month that we stay here not doing anything, our parents would have had to pay for our electricity, our rent, our food, our transportation costs,” said Harry as she alluded to the fact, that students were not too long ago asked to pay tuition fees that are significantly higher than local students who attend the institution.As a non-resident student the tuition fee is at a minimum of US$3,000 while the minimum for the non-national students is US$4,000 per year.“You can just imagine how much we are already giving to the University of Guyana, notwithstanding other things such as rent and utilities,” considered Harry. The UGSS Council Representative went on to point out that some of the non-resident and non-national students, are attending UG on a contractual basis as they have been sent to the institution to study by their employers or Governments. These students are faced with a situation whereby they are expected to return to their countries by a specified time, which was the end of the originally intended semester period, in order to fulfill their contractual duties. “These guidelines would have been set according to the University’s calendar which states that the semester should end on May 23, 2015.“Now if the semester is extended what are the non-resident and non-national students to say to their employers or to their Governments since they are bound by a contract. Some employers, some Governments might not be lenient. Who is to absorb the type of financial loss these students will be incurring?” questioned Harry. She therefore lamented the fact, that the Administration has not once indulged such discussions since the start of the industrial action.Added to the dilemma is the fact that summer courses, which some students require in order to graduate, will also be pushed further back. At the stipulated end of the semester Summer Classes are usually expected to commence but according to Harry if the regular semester is extended, that means that the Summer Courses will also be extended. This will therefore mean, she noted, that some students may not be privileged to attend these classes as they will have to return to their country. The added predicament in this development is that “some of these students need to do the summer courses in order to graduate. If they have to forego summer courses because the Administration and the staff have not resolved their issues…that means, those students can’t graduate this year which means, that they will have to spend additional time at the University and considering their fees are already significantly higher than local students, that is a large extra cost that they will have to pay,” asserted Harry.As such, she is urging that the Administration when making decisions as it relates to accounting for lost time at the University, and even now when they should be negotiating to have classes return to normalcy, takes the welfare of all students into consideration. “I understand local students are also experiencing a lot of extra costs as well, so you can imagine how much more magnified costs are for non-resident and non-national students,” said Harry who is convinced that the Administration has not made meaningful enough efforts to resolve the issue. She is also disturbed by the perceived game of “waiting out, seeing who can hold out the longest before they take an actively firm step to have the matter resolved.”“I’m saying to the administration we don’t have time for this, we don’t have money for this,” insisted Harry. |
