Professor Gabriel Ayum Teye, Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS) has called on owners of hostel facilities on their campuses to beef-up security to ensure the safety of students.
He said security and safety of students had over the years not adequately handled adding, “there are always reports of thieves and miscreants breaking into these facilities to torment students and steal their property.”
While appreciating the efforts of landlords and landladies across the campuses in partnering the University to provide accommodation for students, Professor Teye admonished students to be security conscious at all times.
The Vice Chancellor was speaking at the 25th Matriculation Ceremony of the school at the Navrongo campus, Upper East Region.
He said the University continues to record a consistent decrease in the number of application forms for both undergraduate and the graduate programmes.
“Last academic year for instance, the University received a total of 13,079 undergraduate and 792 graduate application forms. The number of applications received this year was 11,531 undergraduates and 681 graduates, clearly showing a drop in the number of applications received”, he said.
The Vice Chancellor said the downward trend was experienced in all the public tertiary institutions which could be attributed to stiff competition from private tertiary institutions running similar or same programmes.
He said the matriculating students earned their admissions by merit, considering various strict guidelines and measures that were used in the admission process, and the number of places in the University.
He said 7,971 undergraduate applicants were admitted out of the total number of undergraduate applications received. “Out of this number, 4,709 (59%) are males and 3,262 (41%) are females. This shows an increase of female admissions (35%) and a decrease in male students (65%) over those admitted last year”, he added.
He advised the freshmen and women to take advantage of all the good things that would come their way in the lecture halls and in the general University environment, reminding them that their primary purpose of being in the school was for academic pursuits.
Professor Teye told the students that “it is your level of commitment to your academic work that will determine the level of your performance in the University examinations,” and further urged them not to allow any negative influences to distract them from their academic pursuit.
The Vice Chancellor said the University was established in 1992 to ensure that University education was made accessible nationally and especially in Northern Ghana, and this year marked a special milestone as it commemorates 25years of its existence.
“At 25, we are assessing the impact of that ‘Community Development through Higher Education’ on National Development. It is no doubt that UDS is poised for the challenges ahead and committed to continue to position itself as a national asset in the facilitation of life-long learning in order to advance community and national development.”
The year-long anniversary celebration is held under the theme: “UDS @ 25: Impact on National Development through Practical Higher Education.
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Source: GNA