Director of the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), Professor Jacob Opadeyi has announced that the Government is considering legal action against the International Skill Development Corporation (ISDC) after it was forced to “sever ties” with the University of Staffordshire due to an alleged fallout with the ISDC.
The University of Staffordshire has publicly stated that it never had any relationship with the GOAL programme or the ISDC company, which was used by GOAL to streamline some of its scholarship programmes.
More than 1,400 students have been left searching for answers.
Placing the blame at the feet of the ISDC, Professor Opadeyi told News Source that the Government is weighing its options.
“The Government is exploring its options. The Government is exploring legal options and financial compensation,” he said.
Opadeyi explained that the ISDC clinched an agreement with GOAL in 2023 to facilitate a number of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes through the University of Staffordshire in the UK for more than a thousand Guyanese scholars.
Though not providing News Source with a copy of any contract signed between ISDC and Staffordshire, Professor Opadeyi throughout the interview maintained that ISDC and the University of Staffordshire had signed an agreement in August 2023, and by March 2024, the University had signed off on a financial model to be used in Guyana for Business and IT offerings.
He said the first cohort commenced their respective programmes in September 2024, but by November questions were being raised.
“Staffordshire issued a warning email to IDSC about the lack of accuracy and misrepresentation in the partnership. I want to emphasize that, the problem is lack of accuracy and misrepresentation in the partnership. One of it that was brought to us, ISDC was listing programmes that was not within the agreement but there was no lack of an agreement,” Professor Opadeyi said.
He said it was not until January 2025 that he learned of the challenges students were facing.
“All of this was brought to my attention only in January 2025. Neither ISDC informed me that their partnership with Staffordshire has gone south nor Staffordshire got to me to say sorry, we have canceled the partnership with ISDC,” the Director of GOAL said.
But in a lawyer’s letter to GOAL on March 17, 2025, the University of Staffordshire said it “never” entered into an agreement with GOAL or ISDC.
It was explained that while discussions about a possible partnership with ISDC relating to programmes did take place, any such partnership required further approval.
“By November 2024, the University had decided not to proceed, and this was clearly communicated to ISDC…As far as the University was concerned that was the end of the matter,” the University, through its lawyer, said.
GOAL was instructed to remove all references to the University from its website and cease to portray a partnership with the University on its website or in any other way.
Professor Opadeyi said GOAL has provided the 1,400 affected students with the option to apply to other universities that are currently in partnership with GOAL.
According to him, as of last evening, approximately 600 students have agreed to pursue other programmes with the 19 available universities.
Given the fallout, Professor Opadeyi said while the academy will not sever ties with the ISDC entirely, it will no longer pursue Bachelors and Master’s programmes through the entity.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login