Methodist University College to withdraw unqualified students

The Methodist University College, Ghana (MUCG) has complied with the directive of the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to withdraw unqualified students admitted by the university, the Principal of the MUCG, Rev Prof Samuel Adjepong, has said.

Consequently, the university has asked the NAB to lift the ban it imposed on it concerning the admission of new students.

Rev Prof Adjepong, who made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic on Monday, noted that the university college had written to the NAB to notify the board of  its compliance with the board’s directive.

Having complied with the directive, he said, the university had put in place various arrangements for the affected students to pass through to meet the laid down requirements for qualification to access tertiary education.

He explained that the actual number of students affected was less than the 1,465 put out by the NAB and that the figure from the board contained 266 students who had earlier been rusticated by the MUCG for obtaining grades D7 and E8 in the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

Also, the figure mentioned by the NAB contained about 400 mature students who were admitted under the requirements spelt out by the University of Ghana, the MUCG’s mentoring university, for admitting mature students.

Rev Prof Adjepong said there were 150 students with Higher National Diploma (HND) who were also asked to withdraw, although they assumed to have met requirements for qualification to tertiary institutions, having been given HND by the National Board for Professional and Technicians Examination (NABPTEX), a recognised national examination body.

He said the bulk of the rest of the students included those with Diploma in Business Studies (DBS).

The NAB, in April this year, ordered the MUCG to withdraw 1,465 unqualified students it admitted to various degree programmes.

The order followed an audit inspection conducted by the board at the university which found out that some of the students who were at various levels were admitted with only proficiency certificates in Computer Studies and other courses.

Others had not obtained grade C6 or less in one, two or all three of the core subjects of Mathematics, English and Integrated Science or Social Studies in the  WASSCE.

Earlier in February this year, 695 unqualified students who were admitted by the Central University College (CUC) to pursue various degree programmes were withdrawn.

Rev Prof Adjepong said the arrangements for the students were that those who had attained 27 years and above would be made to write the MUCG’s mature students examination, to be administered by the University of Ghana, and that if they passed, they would continue their education at the MUCG from where they were asked to stop.

In addition, the readmitted students would not pay fees for the first semester.

He said for those who did not meet the age 27 requirement, the university would organise a remedial programme for them to write and better their WASSCE grades, adding that the cost of the remedial and registration for the WASSCE would be borne by the MUCG.

He indicated that the university was a fledgling institution where the necessary structures had been put in place to make things work better.

For instance, he said, the University of Ghana had representatives on the academic and admissions boards of the MUCG.

In November 2010, the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) issued a directive that tertiary institutions should not admit students with grades D7 and E8 as a means of raising the standard of education in the country.

The information, he said, was communicated to tertiary institutions in February 2011, explaining that having admitted students already, the private institutions pleaded for a stay of executing to allow those who had already been admitted to go through the system but that was not allowed by the NAB.

Rev Prof Adjepong said the NAB needed to plan its auditing programme well, “so that there will be equity”.

“We here at the Methodist University have been transparent and also our board members are men of integrity,” he said.

Source: Daily Graphic