UDS students to undertake field practical programmes
The University for Development Studies (UDS) is to despatch more than 10,000 students this month to the various communities within its catchment areas for field practical programmes, to strengthen the university's relationship with the communities.
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The field practical programme is in line with the university's mandate of blending academic work with that of the community in order to provide constructive interaction between the two, for the total development of northern Ghana and the country as a whole, as part of efforts to achieve its core mandate.
According to the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Gabriel Ayum-Teye, who made the statement at a special congregation to confer an honorary doctorate degree on the former President of the Republic of Namibia, Mr Hifikepuye Lucas Pohamba, at the university's Central Administration in Tamale the Northern Regional capital the move was also in support of the development of the communities.
"UDS is already in the communities through the Third Trimester Field Practical Programme (TTFPP) and the Community-Based Education Services (COBES)," he said.
Development needs
Prof. Ayum-Teye said since the programme was introduced, it had generated several reports on the development needs and potentials of individual communities in the savanna ecological and transitional zones and had suggested strategies to meet them.
"I am pleased to add that the COBES, a problem-based methodology, is unique to the UDS Medical School which has now been registered with the World Directory of Medical Schools as the School of Medicine and Health Sciences," he stated.
In all, 120 graduate students from the faculties of School of Allied Sciences, School of Business and Law, Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Agribusiness and Communication Sciences, Faculty of Planning and Land Management, Faculty of Integrated Development Studies and Institute for Inter-Disciplinary Research and Consultancy Services graduated.
New programmes
Prof. Ayum-Teye said the university had also introduced new programmes, including BSc Waste Management, BSc Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, BSc Farm Power and Machinery Engineering, BSc Mechanical Engineering, and BSc Irrigation and Drainage Engineering to meet the needs of the society.
He added that "if universities must grow, they must provide programmes that will bring about development which means that programmes should be innovative, evolving and relevant".
Appeal
He, however, expressed worry that due to the difficulty in getting financial clearance to employ staff, the university was finding it difficult to mount new programmes, and, therefore, called on the government to lift the ban on the recruitment of new staff.
Prof. Ayum-Teye also commended President John Dramani Mahama for the special consideration given to the university to recruit staff to facilitate the continuous running of the university's medical school.
Dr Pohamba, in his acceptance speech for the honorary doctorate degree, urged Ghanaian graduate students not to limit their academic works to only Ghana, but to extend it to other parts of the African continent and the world.