- but female enrolment increases to 54%
The University for Professional Studies (UDS) turned down about 11,419 qualified applicants seeking admission to the institution in the 2023/24 academic year, due to lack of teaching and learning infrastructure.
According to the management of UDS, only 10,431 students were admitted out of 21,850 qualified applicants, representing 47 percent of the total applications received. This phenomenon of admitting less than 50 percent of qualified applicants is attributed to inadequate infrastructure, a challenge that has bedevilled the university for several years now.
With infrastructure deficit continually undermining public universities’ ability to increase enrolment to reflect the growing number of second cycle graduates due to the free senior high school (FSHS) policy, the hopes of thousands of prospective university students continue to hang in the balance.
Nonetheless, in fulfilment of the UDS’s affirmative action policy, 5,630 out of the admitted students were female, representing 54 percent.
At the postgraduate level, 366 admissions were given out of the 891 people that applied to study various programmes at the university. However, 245 of the students representing 67 percent are males whilst the remaining 121 representing 33 percent are females.
Providing further breakdown, management indicated that out of the about 1,798 and 1,079 applications received for Bachelor Science in Nursing and Midwifery, the university was able to admit only 230 and 224 applicants respectively.
Again only 180 admissions were granted for medicine and 198 for Doctor of Pharmacy out of the combined 2,920 applications received.
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor of UDS, Prof. Felix Kofi Abagale, made these revelations at the 31st matriculation ceremony of the school, held at the UDS Nyankpala campus in the Tolon District of the Northern Region.
The Pro-VC who was representing the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Seidu Alhassan, added that despite the infrastructure challenges, management is committed to training quality graduates for industry.
He stated that because the government cannot do it all, the management embarked on some projects with internally generated funds (IGF) and donor support, with some of the projects currently at various stages of completion.
“We train graduates not to be job seekers but creators, so several extra-curricular programmes like entrepreneurial, satellite fields and seminars, among others, are being provided to compliment government effort in creating jobs to enhance the economic welfare of citizens,” he said.
Russia-Ukraine returnees
He said the university has reintegrated seven Ghanaian students who were studying medicine in Ukraine and affected by the Russia-Ukraine war into the school of medicine at various levels to continue with their training.
Transport challenge
To ease the transportation burden on students in commuting to and from residence to campus, he said the management is collaborating with the Ayaalolo bus service to provide several buses on the various campuses to serve the students at affordable prices.
He encouraged students to attend lectures regularly saying: “Students are required to attend 70 percent of lectures before being allowed to sit for the end-of-trimester exams.
“Your choice of UDS out of the numerous universities in the country is a clear confirmation of the confidence you have reposed in us, for our academic excellence which is recognized both nationally and internationally.”
