Legon to phase out Diploma Programmes

The University of Ghana, Legon, as part of its restructuring processes, has decided to phase out all diploma programmes being run by the school.

The Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, made this revelation during the school’s graduation ceremony over the weekend.

According to Prof Aryeetey, the management understood that the Diploma programmes could best be run by some other tertiary institutions including the Polytechnics.

“This is also in line with our objective of focusing more and more on postgraduate training,” Prof Aryeetey stated as the main reason for the school’s tough decision.

The last admission of students into the diploma programmes at the University of Ghana would be in the 2015/2016 academic year. Currently, the school has started the process of the 2013/2014 admissions.

“We are prepared for the task of offering admission to applicants from two batches of Senior High School graduates. The last batch of students who undertook the programme in four years and the first batch of the reintroduced three-year programme,” the Vice Chancellor noted.

He hinted that the school was prepared to admit as many qualified applicants as they could.

“But we do not intend to go back on the measures we put in place a few years ago to decongest our halls of residence and lecture halls in order to offer places to increased number of applicants. That would be defeating our attempts to turn the University of Ghana into a world class institution and to give our students the excellent learning and living environment that they deserve,” he said.

He admitted that it was a difficult situation they found themselves but the school was committed to working together with other stakeholders to ensure the senior high school graduates will not face untold hardship while trying to further their education.

Over 4,000 students (both from the diploma and degree programmes) were awarded with their degrees and diplomas at the event.

Betty Enyonam Kumahor, the Managing Director of Africa for Thoughtworks, a global IT consulting firm, who was the guest speaker, told the new graduates not to be daunted by the unemployment situation in the country but rather work hard to become relevant.