University of Education withholds 300 graduating students certificates for misconduct

About 300 graduating students of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), alleged to have flouted the rules of congregation of the university have had their certificates withheld for three months.

During the first day of the congregation at Winneba in Kumasi, graduates from the Faculty of Business Education of the College of Technology Education left the congregation grounds to pick up their certificates, moments after their names were mentioned instead of doing so after the ceremony.

The University Council however, describes the actions of the students as gross disregard for the rules of congregation, which required all graduates to remain seated till the close of the ceremony.

Though appeals were made to the students to return and wait till the end of the programme, the graduating students refused, which incurred the displeasure of the university authorities.

The action of the students compelled the University Council to withhold their certificates for three months.

Announcement

Announcing the decision of the council on the second day of the graduation ceremony of the college in Kumasi last Thursday, the Chairman of the University Council, Prof. Emmanuel Nicholas Abakah, described the incident as very unfortunate and advised the graduates to be disciplined and respect authority as they ventured into the world.

“Please be sure to stand out at any moment in time and do not be afraid to be different, irrespective of where you may find yourselves. Be a source of inspiration to the younger generation and also true ambassadors of positive change and not agents of the status quo,” he said, adding, “I wish to urge you to lead exemplary lives and exhibit attitudes and behaviour worthy of emulation.”

He also asked them to be good ambassadors of the university and not to allow themselves to be contaminated by the vices of today’s world.

Prof. Abakah said the world today was witnessing a period of increased social vices, such as armed robbery, rape, vandalism and get-rich-quick disease which, he said, were the direct result of unbridled greed for money and possessions.

“Resist any fraudulent means of solving your social challenges. Do not steal from the workplace coffers and, for that reason, the national coffers through pen robbery because by so doing, you shall be walking slowly but surely into the powerful, rigid arm of the law,” he advised.

Vice Chancellor

The acting Vice Chancellor of the university, the Very Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni, said 2,989 students from the various faculties of the university completed their courses this year and were awarded various certificates ranging from diploma, bachelor's and master's degrees.

The number is made up of 52 per cent males and 48 per cent females and comprised the first batch of students on the Bachelor of Arts in English Education programme from the Kumasi campus.

New programmes

Prof. Afful-Broni said the university was in the process of finalising a new MBA programme which would be run during weekends at the Kumasi campus to meet the needs of workers.

He said in the next academic year, the college would run an MSc in Information Technology Education and a four-semester sandwich course in Master of Education in Teaching and Learning Research programmes.

According to him, the university was in the process of introducing more market-oriented and demand-driven programmes to meet the needs of industry and society as a whole.