UDS Wa campus graduates 1,789 students

A total number of 1,789 students comprising diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate students graduated from the Wa campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) on Saturday.

About 1,923 students from the Tamale, Nyankpala and Navrongo campuses of the University are expected to graduate next week in Tamale.

This brings the total number of students to 3,712 students who would be passed out by the University for the 2015/2016 academic year. Out of the number, 138 students are graduating at the postgraduate level in various disciplines.

Speaking at the 17th Congregation of the University in Wa, Professor Gabriel Ayum Teye, Vice Chancellor of UDS, expressed his gratitude to the entire faculty for the individual roles each of them played towards getting the students to graduate.

Prof Teye said the University received a total of 10,447 applications for the 2016/2017 Academic year, for admission into various undergraduate and graduate programmes of the university.

He said the University offered admission to 6,897 of the applicants into various programmes in the undergraduate and graduate categories out of which only 3,136 of them had reported as at the time of matriculation.

The Vice Chancellor cautioned that the long-term survival of the nation at large, as well as organisations, institutions and agencies, would depend on how the graduates would effectively apply the knowledge, competencies and skills they had acquired to manage themselves and others.

"Note that the possession of a degree, diploma or masters alone will not automatically lead to success in life. It is your attitude and emotional intelligence that is critical factors to sustainable success", he said.

"It is not how much book you know that brings success in life but your ability to restrain yourself from negative feelings such as anger and self-doubt", Professor Teye said.

Prof Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, the Minister of Education, congratulated the graduates and challenged the University to come out with a proposal on how to teach agriculture in schools to make the needed impact.

She expressed worry about high graduate unemployment and blamed it on over specialisation, calling on universities to make their courses more integrated and relevant to societal needs.

Nathan Tetteh, a Bachelor of Science in Planning graduate, took away GHC500.00 from the Dean of students, GHC 250.00 from the UDS Alumni and a laptop computer donated by Ecobank as his prize for emerging the Overall Best Graduating Student for the 2015/2016 academic year.