Help implement accommodation policy - UG

The University of Ghana has appealed to all stakeholders, especially students, parents and alumni, for support and co-operation in the implementation of its new "In-Out-Out-Out residential policy".

It said it had come to the attention of the university that some disgruntled members of the public were goading the student body on to resort to demonstrations and acts of vandalism with a view to disrupting the end of semester examinations.

It however assured all students and the general public that the end-of-semester examinations would come off as scheduled.

In a statement, the university said it was considering the introduction of the policy to cater for student accommodation on the Legon campus, beginning from the 2007/2008 academic year.

According to the statement, the university could not cater for a student population of 28,480, saying that it is simply impossible, with present resources, to offer accommodation to every student in the traditional halls of residence.

It however said the existing method of prioritising accommodation for some categories of students, such as sportsmen/women, medical students, international students, persons with disability, students with special medical conditions and student leaders, as already pertained in the traditional halls of residence, would continue.

When the new policy came into effect, the statement said, the university would give priority to freshmen and women in the allocation of rooms and thus enable the new students to quickly settle into their new environment.

It said any vacancies in the traditional halls after new students had been accommodated would be offered to students in Level 400 on a lottery basis, adding that students in Levels 200, 300 and 400 would continue to be offered accommodation in the university's hostels and other private hostels.

It said the university had approximately 8,400 beds available in the traditional halls of residence and its own hostels, adding that with expected freshmen enrolment of 5,000 students in the 2007/08 academic year, the university was confident that it could absorb all freshmen and women, as well as provide accommodation for some final-year students.

The statement said other universities outside the country, as well as the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), were already implementing such a policy.