University of Mines and Technology holds matriculation

The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) on Saturday held its 10th matriculation ceremony for 504 students comprising 79 females at Tarkwa in the Western region.

The matriculants included 41 international students from Nigeria, Gabon, Sierra Leone, Mali, Cote d’lvoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroun, Kenya, Liberia and Burkina Faso.

The foreign students together with Ghanaians were thoroughly screened for the deadly Ebola disease before they were allowed to register.

Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Jerry Kuma, Vice Chancellor of the University said this year, the University received 1,896 applications for undergraduate programmes but due to limited facilities such as lecture rooms, laboratories, and other essential facilities, only 504 students were admitted.

He recalled that in March this year, President John Dramani Mahama paid a working visit to the university and promised to help develop UMaT into a ten thousand student capacity university.

The Vice Chancellor said as a follow up to the President’s pledge, authorities of the university had initiated preliminary discussions with the government and officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

He said they had therefore proposed the development of the new campus on a land donated to the university by the chief and people of Wassa Fiase Traditional Area.

Professor Kuma said the Ministry of Finance was also in the process of engaging a Transaction Advisor to fast track the construction of the new campus, under the Public Private Partnership model.

He projected that when the project was completed, the University would be able to admit more students.

According to the Vice Chancellor, the University had partially completed a 500 bed hall of residence for students.

He assured that management of the University will continue to explore innovative ways to complete the entire edifice to ease accommodation problems students faced on campus.

He said the university was adopting measures to enable it become a benchmark for quality tertiary education in the country, and called on the freshmen to start studying diligently to enable them to realize their dreams.

Professor Kuma also advised them to take all subjects seriously in order to graduate with better grades.