Presbyterian University College admits over 300 students this year

The Presbyterian University College (PUC) has admitted 320 students this academic year at its three campuses as against 260 students last year.

The three campuses are located at Kwahu Abetifi, Akropong-Akuapem and Agogo.

The Kwahu campus admitted 184 students to undertake studies in BSC Business Administration and Mathematics while 77 students were admitted at the Asante Akyem campus for BSC Nursing with the Akuapem campus offering BSC Environmental and Natural Resources Management and BSC Rural and Community Development for 61 students.

The Principal of the PUC, Professor Kofi Sraku-Lartey said this at the sixth joint matriculation ceremony at the Kwahu campus at Abetifi in the Kwahu East District.

He said this year's enrolment had brought the total students population on the three campuses to 900 out of which 41 per cent are females.

Prof Sraku-Lartey said the College, in collaboration with the Kwahu Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, had embarked on small scale agriculture in crops and animal husbandry at Afram Plains.

He said the objective of the project was to increase its capacity to engage in large scale commercial agriculture and use the facility to provide outreach services and training for members in the community to improve their livelihood and also established a faculty of agriculture in future.

Professor Sraku-Lartey advised the students to take advantage of the calm semi-rural environment at the three campuses, which he described as pleasant and highly conducive for learning, to concentrate on their studies.

In his remarks, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram-Asiedu, advised newly established Universities to avoid duplication of courses and introduce more practical subjects to equip their students with skills that would give them additional capacity to be self employed.

He said government had been providing infrastructure to the country's universities and that this had increased enrolment from 4,670 in 2000-01 to 88,445 as of last academic year.

Enrolment in polytechnics has also increased by 50 percent, he added.

The Regional Minister said the government would build additional public Universities with focus on science and technology to achieve the national policy of 60:40 students ratio for science as compared to humanities.

The Omanhene of the Kwahu Traditional area, Daasebre Akuamoah Boateng II, in an address read for him, said the chiefs and people in the area had contributed immensely towards the running of the University.

He said the chiefs and people of Obo and Pepease were constructing hostel for the students and that they had provided land for the establishment of the department of Computer Engineering and Faculty of Agriculture.