KNUST admits 22,011 fresh students
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has admitted 22,011 students for the 2019/20 academic year out of 43,877 qualified applications.
In all, KNUST received 56,548 applications from Ghana and beyond, but the fresh admissions formed just over 50 per cent of the total qualified applications received by the school for the academic year.
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The limited admissions were because of the limited infrastructure at the school.
The new admissions have, however, increased the population of female students at the KNUST to 40 per cent with a total enrolment of 8,822 out of the 22,011 freshmen admitted to pursue various courses for the academic year.
The Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, Professor Kwasi Obiri Danso, addressing students at the matriculation ceremony last Friday, attributed the improvement in the female enrolment to a special initiative for girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics launched when he assumed office in August 2016.
Balancing population
Prof. Danso expressed the hope that with this steady increase in the female population, the university would be able to achieve a 50/50 male and female enrolment in the not-too-distant future.
He congratulated the students for sailing through the selection process to be admitted into one of the prestigious public universities in Ghana.
The vice-chancellor urged the students to focus on the main purpose of being in KNUST, stressing that it was a stepping stone to their success in the future.
He further urged them to make use of the faculties and opportunities on campus to guide them to shape their lives, develop their skills and enhance their personal attributes.
He welcomed the students to a fruitful life on campus and urged them to take advantage of the university’s prepaid bus transit system to facilitate the movement of students to and from lectures, and the special SIM cards with bulk SMS and special voice bundle supplied by the university to all first-year students.
The SIM cards are meant to enhance and offer interactive and real time communication for the dissemination of important notices to students.
To provide parental guidance for students, the university has also set up the Office of the Dean of Students to enable students to accomplish both academic and personal success.
Counseling
A representative of the KNUST Counselling Centre (KCC), Miss Akua Afriyie Addae, informed the fresh students about the services rendered by her outfit to aid their stay on campus.
Miss Addae said KNUST was the only public university that had counsellors and psychologists at the university level and also at various faculties and halls of residence to serve the emotional and psychological needs of both students and staff.
She noted that the KCC provided emotionally safe, confidential, compassionate services in a respectful environment that fostered their development on campus.
She, therefore, encouraged the students to feel free to call on them for any assistance.
The Registrar, Mr Andrews Kwasi Boateng, administered the matriculation oath to the newly admitted students.