Director of the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), Professor Jacob Opadeyi said the scholarships offered for degree programmes at the United Kingdom’s Staffordshire University are not fake.
Through GOAL, Guyanese can access several degree programmes offered by Staffordshire University through ISDC, which is a UK Education facilitator. However, the existing arrangement between the university and ISDC has faced some challenges.
“When we investigated what is the problem, we were made to realise that there is a change of leadership at Staffordshire and the new leadership did not like the agreement with ISDC,” Professor Opadeyi told the News Room on Tuesday.
He added, “There is nothing like anything fake in all of this because the two institutions are accredited bodies but you will expect that a new administration will have continuity with any agreement they signed before but this is what happened.”
Already, Professor Opadeyi and his GOAL team engaged officials from both institutions hoping to resolve the matter soon so that Guyanese scholarship awardees can continue learning comfortably. Some feedback is expected by Thursday and students should expect the issue to be resolved in about two weeks, according to the GOAL Director.
However, he clarified that the issue isn’t one that GOAL has control over. He provided letters to show that bona fide arrangements were in place for GOAL scholarship awardees.
Students were told of the issue on Monday, during a virtual town hall meeting. Professor Opadeyi said alternatives are being instituted for students.
If students want to continue their studies under the ISDC/Staffordshire arrangement, he has asked for two weeks to resolve the issue. The GOAL Director is optimistic that both institutions will return to the existing arrangement.
If students wish to change programmes, however, they will be supported. Professor Opadeyi noted that students will be allowed to switch to any other GOAL University and the GOAL team will engage that university so that credits already earned by the students during their Staffordshire studies can be accepted.
“Our job is to ensure that the lives of our students are made better.
“We have lists of similar programmes not identical. So you may want to do Public Administration and the other university calls it Public Management,” he said.
Professor Opadeyi highlighted that students affected may even be allowed to switch to a different programme than what they were originally pursuing at Staffordshire.
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