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The University of Guyana, in Georgetown, Guyana, was established in 1963 by the Guyanese government. Cheddi Jagan, then Premier of British Guiana considered that the University of the West Indies, to which his government had contributed since 1948, was not meeting the demand of his countrymen for higher education. On January 4, 1962, Jagan wrote to Harold Drayton, then in Ghana, to ask him to seek the advice of W.E.B. DuBois on starting a new university.[1][2]. Drayton returned to British Guiana in December 1962, and it was on his advice that Jagan wrote to socialist scholars in the United Kingdom and United States-- including Joan Robinson at the University of Cambridge, Paul Baran at Stanford University, and Lancelot Hogben at Birmingham -- to involve them in the recruitment of staff.[The University of Guyana: Perspectives on its Early History (Toronto, 2002)]. The University opened on the grounds of Queen's College in late 1963. Its first chancellor was Edgar Mortimer Duke and its first Principal and Vice-Chancellor was the British mathematician, Lancelot Hogben.

Faculties

• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Natural Sciences
• Faculty of Social Sciences
• Faculty of Education and Humanities
• Faculty of Health Sciences
• Faculty of Technology
• Institute of Distance and Continuing Education
• Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry

Notable alumni

• Mahadai Das, Guyanese writer
• M. Jamal Deen, FRSC FCAE FINAE, Professor and Senior Canada Research Chair, McMaster University, Canada
• Odeen Ishmael, Guyanese ambassador Venezuela, formerly to the United States and the Organization of American States
• Denis Williams, Guyanese painter and archaeologist

Notable faculty and administrators

• Joyce Sparer Adler, American critic, playwright, and teacher, as well as a founding faculty of the University in 1963
• Joel Benjamin, former deputy Librarian and archivist at the University
• Derek Bickerton, former lecturer, now Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at University of Hawai'i, Honolulu
• Janette Bulkan, Guyanese professor and activist of international environmental human rights; visiting professor at Colby College
• Harold Drayton, key advisor to Jagan on the founding of the university, Guyanese scientist, former Deputy-Principal and Professor of Biology
• Michael Gilkes, Guyanese writer and academic
• Stanley Greaves, Guyanese painter, former head of Creative Arts at the University
• Richard Hart, Jamaican lawyer and politician
• Lancelot Hogben, English zoologist and geneticist
• Abdur Rahman Slade Hopkinson, Guyanese writer and professor at the University (1966-1968)
• Basdeo Mangru, Guyanese historian; current faculty of City University of New York, York
• Ali Mazrui, renowned African and Islamic studies academic
• Dr Mark Pelling, Reader in Human Geography, King's College, London
• Clem Seecharan, Guyanese writer
• Bertrand Ramcharan, current Channcellor of the University
• Shridath Ramphal, former Guyanese foreign minister (1972-1975) and the second Commonwealth Secreteary General (1975-1990)
• Walter Rodney, renowned Pan-African writer and political theorist
• Rupert Roopnaraine, Guyanese writer, politician and academic
• Dr Joycelyn Loncke, Guyanese Linguist, teacher of French Language.

External links

• University of Guyana official website
• Establishment of the University of Guyana (guyana.org)
• The Mittelholzer Foundation

Education in Guyana Secondary Schools List of schools in Guyana · Anna Regina Multilateral · Berbice High · Bishops' High · Guyana Hindu College · Mackenzie High · North West · Port Kaituma · President's College · Queen's College · Santa Rosa · St Rose's · St Stanislaus Private Secondary Schools Marian Academy · Georgetown International School · School of the Nations Universities and colleges List of universities and colleges in Guyana · Cyril Potter College of Education · Guyana School of Agriculture · The Business School Guyana · University of Guyana Initiatives Guyana Education Access Project