University of Ghana admits 17,819 “freshers” for 2012/2013 academic year
Ghana’s premier university, University of Ghana, Legon, on Saturday welcomed a total of 17,819 new students to pursue graduate and undergraduate programmes for the 2012/2013 academic year at a matriculation ceremony in Accra.
As part of the admission process, the new students swore the matriculation oath and the declaration of obedience and signed bond of good behavior.
The total in-take comprises 15,272 undergraduates and 2,547 graduates with 12,586 students offering programmes in the Humanities and 2,686 in the Sciences.
In respect of sex distribution, 7,360 are females as against 10,459 males. They include both regular residential students and those offering other programmes at the Accra City Campus as well as Distant Education programmes.
Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor of the University noted that this year’s admissions had been the most competitive ever.
He indicated that although a total of 31,813 undergraduate and 4,480 postgraduate applications respectively were received, the University was compelled to limit its intake in spite of the fact that many more were eligible.
He attributed the challenge to the University’s inadequate facilities and limited human resources, expressing the sentiment that “when students have excellent grades, but cannot gain admission to university, it should be a matter of great concern to society”.
“I have been personally pained by the large numbers of students with excellent grades that we could not admit into any programmes. While I plan to work with other Vice-Chancellors in Ghana to find some solutions to the problems associated with this, it is clearly a challenge that should attract significant national attention, especially from the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, the West African Examination Council as well as the leadership of schools in Ghana,” he said.
Prof. Aryeetey said the University had over the few years tried to find a solution to its severe accommodation challenges by constructing new facilities and renovating existing ones, which has made it possible to de-congest the traditional halls of residence.
He said even though paying for these facilities remained a significant challenge for both the University and the Government, it was hoped that a solution would soon be found.
He the University authorities demanded that students look after these facilities and make good use of them in a manner that would preserve them for future cohorts of students.
The Vice-Chancellor said in order to discourage negligence and willful destruction of University property, management had decided to debit directly each student found guilty in the destruction of any such property with the full cost of replacement.
“What this means is that if toilet bowls are broken or chocked as a result of improper use, the offending student will find that his/her student account is debited with the full cost of replacement, non-payment of which will result in non-registration”, he said.
Prof. Aryeetey congratulated the matriculates for their successful admission into the University and urged them to pursue their courses with diligence, aim at excellence, have respect for authority and be guided by all the rules and regulations of the University.
Source: GNA