University of Professional Studies holds matriculation

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Accra, Oct. 11, GNA - University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has admitted 4,114 students out of 8,000 qualified applicants for the 2013/2014 academic year.

Out of the number, 368 are Diploma Students, 3,316 are Undergraduates, 26 are offering professional Programmes and 404 are undertaking their Masters.

Professor Joshua Alabi, Vice Chancellor of UPSA, said over 10,000 students applied for the various programmes this academic year and about 8,000 were fully qualified but due to lack of infrastructure, they could only admit  4,114, representing 51.45 per cent of the qualified applicants.

He noted that admissions for the 2013/2014 academic had been most challenging, given the fact that two batches of Senior High School students took the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) in June 2012.

'Despite the huge challenge, the University did its best to give as many qualified applicants as possible admission. For example Evening School and Weekend School admissions which were reserved for workers and matured applicants, admitting to level 200 and above, admitted WASSCE students to Level 100 this academic year,' he added.

Prof. Alabi, therefore, appealed to the government to increase funding to the Universities to enable them expand their facilities to be able to absorb the large army of students with good grades who graduate from the Senior High Schools each year, but were unable to secure admission, due to the limited capacity of tertiary institutions to absorb them.  

'This request notwithstanding, it is worthy to note that the government has done its best in its support for tertiary institutions and I wish to seize this opportunity to commend it for all that it has done and continues to do for tertiary institutions in the country,' he said.

The Vice Chancellor announced that the National Accreditation Board had approved four courses, namely, Diploma in Information Technology Management, BSc Information Technology Management, MBA Petroleum Accounting and Finance and MBA Total Quality Management.

He explained that three other programmes - BSc Public Relations Management, MBA Oil and Gas Management and the Top-Up MBA programme were at various stages of the accreditation process and would be rolled out when the necessary approval was given by the National Accreditation Board.

'Other courses being considered are the BSc Economics, BSc Economics with Actuarial Science and the LLB Law programme. All these initiatives are within the context of the University's quest to offer a wide array of courses to its students and also to help enrich the human resource of the country,' he added. 

Prof Alabi also announced that the University would soon embark on a Distance Education programme and the necessary preparatory work was far advanced and would be rolled out soon to those desirous of furthering their education, but who for certain reasons were unable to enrol on the Regular, Evening or Weekend programmes offered by the university.

He said the Information Services and Technology Directorate had been directed to ensure that an Online Registration System was in place by the beginning of the next academic year to reduce the stress that students go through during registration period.

He added that the university in its quest to promote good teaching and learning had adopted the Moodle Application as an additional tool to be used by Lecturers and students in the teaching and learning activity.

'Moodle is an online teaching and learning resource that can be used interactively by Lecturers and students. It is indeed a major plank of the University's academic policy,' he said and appealed to all Lecturers and students to use it actively so as to enhance teaching and learning at the University.        

Ms Wilhemina Abraham, a Matriculant, on behalf of her colleagues pledged their commitment to study hard and obey the rules and regulations of the university.

GNA