UEW withholds certificates of 300 students - They breached congregation rules
About 300 graduating students of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) have had their certificates withheld for three months because they disregarded the rules of congregation of the university.
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During the first day of the two-day 22nd congregation of the university in Kumasi last Wednesday, the graduates from the Faculty of Business Education of the College of Technology Education of the university left the congregation grounds to pick up their certificates, moments after they had been called, instead of doing so at the end of the ceremony.
The action of the students has been described by the University Council as gross disregard for the rules of congregation, which required all graduates to remain seated for the programme to end before leaving.
What even incurred the displeasure of the university authorities was the fact that all appeals to the students to return and wait for the programme to end fell on deaf ears.
The action of the students compelled the University Council to take the decision to withhold their certificates for three months.
Announcement
Announcing the decision of the council on the second day of the graduation ceremony of the college in Kumasi last Thursday, the Chairman of the University Council, Prof. Emmanuel Nicholas Abakah, described the incident as very unfortunate and advised the graduates to be disciplined and respect authority as they ventured into the world.
“Please be sure to stand out at any moment in time and do not be afraid to be different, irrespective of where you may find yourselves. Be a source of inspiration to the younger generation and also true ambassadors of positive change and not agents of the status quo,” he said, adding, “I wish to urge you to lead exemplary lives and exhibit attitudes and behaviour worthy of emulation.”
He asked them to be good ambassadors of the university and not to allow themselves to be contaminated by the vices of today’s world.
Prof. Abakah said the world today was witnessing a period of increased social vices, such as armed robbery, pen robbery, rape, vandalism and get-rich-quick disease which, he said, were the direct result of unbridled greed for money and possessions.
“Resist any fraudulent means of solving your social challenges. Do not steal from the workplace coffers and, for that reason, the national coffers through pen robbery because by so doing, you shall be walking slowly but surely into the powerful, rigid arm of the law,” he advised.
Vice Chancellor
The acting Vice Chancellor of the university, the Very Rev. Fr. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni, said 2,989 students from the various faculties of the university completed their courses this year and were awarded various certificates ranging from diploma, bachelor's and master's degrees.
The number is made up of 52 per cent males and 48 per cent females and comprised the first batch of students on the Bachelor of Arts in English Education programme from the Kumasi campus.
New programmes
Prof. Afful-Broni said the university was in the process of finalising a new MBA programme which would be run during weekends at the Kumasi campus to meet the needs of workers.
He said in the next academic year, the college would run an MSc in Information Technology Education and a four-semester sandwich course in Master of Education in Teaching and Learning Research programmes.
According to him, the university was in the process of introducing more market-oriented and demand-driven programmes to meet the needs of industry and society as a whole.