Convocation and Council Members
Prof. Michael Tagoe, Ag. Provost of the University of Ghana (UG) Legon, has indicated that the institution is considering ways by which it can contain the anticipated huge number of the first batch of Free Senior High School (SHS) Students.
Prof. Tagoe made this disclosure when he represented the vice chancellor of the premier university, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, during a congregation organized by the university‘s College of Education for 1,409 students at the Great Hall last Saturday.
According to him, a proposal on the introduction of additional city campuses in the regions is currently being developed alongside the expansion of facilities at the main campus at Legon, Accra.
The Free SHS programme, which started in September last year by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, saw a massive enrolment of first-year students into the senior high schools throughout the country.
Prof. Tagoe explained that the graduating class comprised 208 with Diplomas, 1,147 undergraduate students and 54 graduate students.
He said the holders of Diploma who graduated with distinctions, represented 8% , 2% of undergraduates obtained first class honours, 39% second class upper division and 44% second class lower while 15% were in the third class category.
State of the University
Speaking on the state of the university, Prof. Tagoe indicated that in a bid to be recognized as a world class research intensive institution in the West African sub-region, it launched a road map which comprised nine strategic teams.
These, among others, he mentioned as, Institutional Advancement Team, University of Ghana Rebranding and Marketing, Agricultural Centers Commercialization Committee, Medical and Dentistry School Expansion, Laboratory Modernization and Vice Chancellor’s Green Project Team.
2017/18 Admission the university
Prof. Tagoe disclosed that in the 2017/18 academic year, UG admitted 14,129 students, of which 11,707 were undergraduates, 2,421 graduate students and 389 international students.
“The university is preparing to admit the next batch of students in September and in line with its tradition to ensure adequate orientation, the outreach teams have travelled nationwide to sensitize prospective applicants,” he stated.
Scholarships
The provost was happy that the university has over the period under review granted 429 scholarships worth GH¢931,494 to students, adding that it represented 27% increase over the 2015/16 awards.
Support
The university continues to receive support from international and local partners for various projects notably, US$111,142 from the Office For Research Innovations and Development (ORID), EUR 1,359,975 to run the African International Staff Student Exchange programme (ARISE II).
The other grants and awards are 13 million Danish kroner to implement the third phase of the ‘Building Stronger Universities (BSUs)’ project which runs from October 2017 to September 2021 and US$5.5 million award from the National Institute of Health for the three-year interrelated research project dubbed, Sickle Cell Disease Genomics Network of Africa (SickleGenAfrica)
Congregation speaker, Ms.Yolanda Zolanka Cuba, CEO of Vodafone Ghana, challenged the graduands to endeavour to be counted among the top people identified as making progress.
By Solomon Ofori