The Ghana Institute of Journalism has confirmed that there are malpractices in the Institute’s admission procedures. It has accordingly decided to abolish the conduct of entrance examinations. Prospective students to the institute will now be selected on the basis of their qualification after which they will be listed for an interview.
The decision which takes effect from this year, followed reports by JOY FM that some lecturers of the Institute take advantage of the examination to extort various sums of monies from prospective students.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, the Director of the Institute, David Newton, noted that entrance examinations have been identified as the main source of corruption in the school. He said the cancellation would prevent people from collecting money and organising courses they claimed would let candidates gain admission.
Mr Newton said an admissions committee would scrutinize applications, pick and short list candidates for the interview. The committee would comprise representatives of the Ghana Journalists Association, Institute of Public Relation, Board of Directors of GIJ as well as the School of Communication Studies, Legon.