Amid concerns raised about the authenticity of the courses being offered by the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarship through a partnership with the University of Bedfordshire, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has clarified that the issue was caused by a change in management at the university. He also assured that the government is working towards an expedient resolution to the misunderstanding.
At his press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo defended the initiative and dismissed allegations that the courses at the University of Bedfordshire is a scam. He attributed the claims that the courses are false to the opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) party.
Jagdeo acknowledged that there was a dispute between the University of Bedfordshire and the International Strategic Development Corporation (ISDC), the organization responsible for facilitating the courses to Guyanese citizens. The Vice President attributed this to a change in the university’s management but assured that efforts were underway to address the matter.
Moreover, he outlined the government and his confidence in Professor Dr. Jacob Opadeyi, the Director of the GOAL scholarship programme. “We spoke to Professor Opadeyi…He was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana. He comes with a solid academic background. He was at the University of the West Indies before he came here, and we brought him back to run the programme,” Jagdeo stated.
He explained that Professor Opadeyi had informed the government that there is some disagreement between the university and the ISDC.
“He said to me, today, they have a meeting between the two entities to sort it out,” the Vice President added.
Jagdeo noted that a resolution is expected following the meeting in London. However, the Vice President assured that if the issue is not resolved, other alternative arrangements would be made for students.
“He’s awaiting the completion of the meeting in London to know about the way forward. It’s not fake. Nothing is fake. He said, also it’s either they sort out the difference there, which could be sorted out, but they, if they can’t sort it out, there’s two other universities in the United Kingdom that will accept the grade that people got. They already credit them for work already done,” he disclosed.
He continued, “But I want to assure the people we’re not going to, you know, leave anybody by the wayside. This has to be resolved to their satisfaction too.”
