Guyanese will soon be able to access a number of Master’s programmes at Nation’s University. The local university is gearing to offer these programmes with the support of the Bedfordshire University in the United Kingdom.
To advance the collaboration, a six-member team from the UK University, this week, paid a visit to the New Market Street, Georgetown Nation’s University to ensure that all of the necessary measures are in place.
According to Nation’s Director, Dr. Brian O’Toole, the visit by the officials was to enable them to ascertain whether his institution is ready to offer the programmes. Among the areas that were examined, he disclosed are: the condition of the facility and the calibre of the staffers who will be tasked with teaching the Master’s programmes, among others.
“They basically have come to confirm everything; so everything is set up now and now it is all in the hands of the National Accreditation Council [NAC],” said Dr. O’Toole.
“These high level professors [the visiting team] came just to tie up loose ends…they are just here for two days. They travelled from halfway around the world to do this,” said Dr. O’Toole as he added, the introduction of the programmes is in fact “great news for us…this is a huge thing for Guyana.”
Dr. O’Toole is optimistic that the programmes, once accredited, will be approved by February of next year thereby allowing suitable candidates to take advantage of them.
Among the Master’s programmes that the university is on the verge of offering are: Psychology, Public Health, Journalism, Banking and Finance, Project Management, Tourism, Law and LLM in Oil and Gas.
Nation’s collaboration with Bedfordshire has also positioned it to offer a Master’s in Education programme from next month. The Master’s in Education programme has already been accredited by NAC.
The programme is one that will see tutors the likes of Dr. O’Toole himself delivering a course in
Educational Leadership in Context; Ms. Simone Phillips and Mrs. Taskiliya Stewart-Fox delivering on Education and International Development; Ms. Mischka White and Dr. Seeta Roath delivering on Leading Change in Education and Dr. Dexter Phillips will deliver on Research Methods.
The aim of this course, according to Dr. O’Toole, is to prepare students to become professionals who are [or are planning to be] actively involved in educational leadership and management, and who wish to undertake study at postgraduate level.
The programme is designed to allow students to study with other professionals from a range of organisations which will enhance the learning experience and begin to develop a professional community of practice for them to draw on.
The course is modular and credit is accumulated over time, allowing students to study at a pace to suit their circumstances.
