AUCC increases ’ enrolment

The African University College of Communication (AUCC) has increased students’ enrolment from 60 students admitted for its first diploma class in 2002 to more than 1,500 currently.

Speaking at this year’s matriculation ceremony for newly-admitted students to commence the 2013/2014 academic year, a Lecturer of Strategic Communication at AUCC, Mr Samuel Tenkorang, said the university had expanded and improved upon its infrastructure, and that had made it possible to admit more students to pursue various degree programmes.

Three-hundred fresh students took the matriculation oath.

Mr Tenkorang advised the students to take their academic work seriously, adding, “It is your level of commitment to your academic work that will determine the degree of your performance in all your examinations.”

“The mission of the university is to produce men and women of strong character and integrity; men and women who would build a progressive society with great impact,” he said.

He announced plans by the university to introduce graduate programmes leading to the award of a Master of Arts (M. A) Degree in Health Communication, Integrated Marketing Communication, and Journalism, beginning next academic year.

He advised students to be humble and take advantage of facilities provided by the school to enhance their studies.

In another development, the University of Professional Studies (UPS) in Accra has admitted 4,114 fresh students, out of a total of 8,000 qualified candidates who applied for admission for the 2013/ 2014 academic year, writes Emmanuel Bonney & Emmanuel Tawiah Forson, Accra.

The figure represents 51.45 per cent of the qualified applicants. Last year, the university admitted 2,500 fresh students.

Speaking at a matriculation ceremony to welcome the freshmen, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Joshua Alabi, said admissions for the 2013/ 2014 academic year had been the most challenging.

That, he said, was because there were two batches (three-year group and the four-year group) of senior high school graduates who had to be considered for admission.

“With the increasing demand for higher education, I wish to use this platform to appeal to the government to increase funding to the universities to enable them to expand their facilities to be able to absorb the large army of students with good grades who graduate from our senior high schools each year,” he said.

Prof. Alabi also commended the government for the immeasurable support it gave tertiary institutions in the country.

According to him, the university had embarked on some development projects to reduce the challenges the students and staff faced, and cited the construction of a new library and hostel to provide accommodation for students.

New programmes

Prof. Alabi also said the university had plans to embark on a distance learning programme to enable it to carry out its mandate of providing business education to as many people as possible.

“The necessary preparatory work is far advanced and it is hoped that in the not-too-distant future, it will be rolled out to those desirous of furthering their education,” he said.

By Lydia Ezit/Daily Graphic/Ghana