University of Ghana admits 15,000 undergraduate students in 2020/2021 academic year

The Matriculation ceremony for students admitted into the University of Ghana for the 2020/2021 academic year has been held.

The ceremony was held online in view of the protocols for the prevention of the spread of the Coronavirus disease.

This year, the ceremony was decentralized and organized at the College level.

Provost of the various Colleges delivered a speech on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ebenezer Oduro Owusu.

Admission

For the 2020/2021 academic year, a total of 15,020 undergraduate students enrolled to pursue various academic programmes in all the University’s campuses.

Of the number, 49.5% are females whereas 50.5% are males.

Breakdown per Colleges

College of Health Sciences – 652

College of Humanities – 8,645

College of Basic and Applied Science – 2,355

College of Education – 3,368

International students

A total of 96 international students have so far been registered for this academic year.

The number is far below the 306 the institution recorded in 2018 and 409 recorded in 2019

The drop in international student enrolment this year is believed to be a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

“Comparing the number of international students enrolled for the 2020/2021 academic year to that of the previous academic year, it is obvious that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on our international population this year. For those who were able to join this year, we warmly welcome you all and appreciate you for choosing to study at the University of Ghana during these uncertain times, feel at home and enjoy your stay in Ghana,” a speech read on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor explained.

Graduate School

The University offered admission to a total of 2,680 but 1,836 of them enrolled.

Accommodation

This year, the university has been able to provide on-campus accommodation to more of its newly admitted students because of the modular system it has adopted to run for the 2020/2021 academic year.

A total of 8,239-bed spaces were made available to new entrants.

“…two cohorts of students, that is level 100 and 400, are on campus in residence for the first part of the first semester. This arrangement has enabled the university to offer residential accommodation to more first-year students. The traditional halls and the UGEL halls, together, provided 6,984 beds, while the private hostels provided 1,255 beds. A total of 8,239-bed spaces was provided to freshly admitted students,” the Vice-Chancellor’s speech read.

University authorities have also disclosed that over 30 residential facility owners have expressed interest in providing accommodation to students of the University.

These properties will be made available to students from the second semester of the 2020/2021 academic year.

Meanwhile, a committee has been set up to explore off-campus facilities to increase the number of bed spaces for students.

“As part of the University’s immediate and long term effort to provide residential accommodation to as many students as possible, especially newly admitted students, the University has set up a committee that is exploring off-campus facilities to augment the current bed spaces within the university campuses. As of the middle of January 2021, more than 30 facility owners within 15km off the Legon campus have applied to make their facility available to students of the university from the beginning of the second semester of the 2020/2021 academic year. This option and others will be explored further to help increase bed space available to students to ease the challenge associated with residential accommodation on campus in the near future,” part of the speech read.