University of Ghana holds Matriculation

Accra, Oct. 10, GNA - Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor of th= e University of Ghana, Legon, at the weekend asked newly enrolled students to guard against occultism and the peddling and usage of narcotic drugs. Professor Aryeetey was speaking during the 2011/12 Matriculation ceremony on the university campus at Legon. He asked the students to carefully read the regulations given them and follow the procedures accordingly, and warned that students who flouted any of the University's regulations would be sanctioned. The Vice Chancellor told the matriculants that their primary aim in th= e university was to go through their chosen academic programmes and graduate with flying colours.

"Your parents, families and teachers have sacrificed so much in order for you to enjoy the privilege of university education", he said, and urg= ed them to justify that sacrifice by behaving responsibly. Professor Aryeetey said the University of Ghana received 27,744 applications from both undergraduate and graduate applicants this year, out of which 14,395 applicants were admitted. The admissions comprised 8,473 for the Legon Main Campus, whiles the Accra City Campus took 1,706. Distance Education accounted for 3,450, with the College of Health Sciences and Foreign Students accounting for 766 and 317 students respectively. The Vice Chancellor said about 120 brilliant but needy students were sponsored annually through the benevolence of individual philanthropists an= d corporate bodies, and expressed gratitude to them.

He said a loan facility from an Israeli bank to construct a 600-bed teaching hospital had been approved by Parliament and that this would help the College of Health Sciences at Korle-Bu to relocate on the Legon campus where a large acreage of plot had been acquired for that purpose. Professor Aryeetey said education comes with responsibility and told th= e matriculants they had an obligation to use the knowledge they would acquire to benefit others. Speaking on behalf of the matriculants, Mr Dawud Yakubu reminded his colleagues about the need to work hard so that they could earn high academi= c laurels.

He called on the lecturers and other stakeholders in the University to play their roles effectively in order to make academic work effective and devoid of distractions. Mr Yakubu appealed to the university authorities to consider finding quick solutions to the accommodation problem confronting some of the newly enrolled students, and urged the authorities to make the academic and residential user fees affordable. Also in attendance at the ceremony were the Provost of Faculties, Deans, Directors and Heads of various Departments on campus.