3000 UDS students begin practical training
Professor Haruna Yakubu, Vice-Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale, has appealed to Government and other stakeholders to support the University financially to maintain its field practicals programme.
He said with their limited resources, inadequate funding has been a major challenge facing the University in the implementation of the field programme and this is in addition to the increase in the student in-take.
Prof Yakubu made the appeal at the opening session of the 2013 Third Trimister Field Practical Programme (TTFPP) in Sunyani on Monday where 3,333 Level 100 students were dispatched to 33 communities in 10 districts in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
He said TTFPP was an integral part of the university’s curriculum to ensure that both students and staff work closely with rural and deprived communities with the focus on enhancing the poverty reduction programme.
Prof Yakubu said the programme was a core of the university’s academic activities that would enable students and members of the communities to identify their development problems and challenges in order to formulate specific interventions to overcome them.
“The TTFPP is a compulsory academic programme of UDS and under-graduate students cannot successfully graduate from the university without fully participating in the programme, “he said.
Prof Yakubu said the programme was aimed at placing the university in a better position to provide useful services through the exchange of knowledge and its application to address the developmental needs and aspirations of the communities.
He said TTFPP was on-going research that would ensure that teaching and learning activities of the university are designed to meet the developmental needs of the people and had some relevance to the decentralization policy.
Prof Yakubu said the practical skills gained by UDS graduates from the programme made them more preferable on the job market especially with the community-based assignments.
He appealed to all stakeholders and employment authorities to be proactive in approaching the university to make use of the increasing development related-students generated by UDS out of the TTFPP programme.
The UDS Vice-Chancellor said international students from Germany and the USA were participating in this year’s practical programme as well as 100 lecturers to serve as supervisors in the Region.
He advised the students not to take unnecessary risks during the programme but to proceed with caution and in moderation whiles they report any unusual situation to their supervisors.
Prof Agnes Apusigah, Dean of Faculty of Education, UDS, urged the students to be role models in the communities and to uphold the good name of the university.
Source: GNA