Monday, September 7, 2009

UMAT ADMITS 504 STUDENTS (PAGE 11)

THE University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) admitted 504 students, representing 33 per cent of the 1,520 candidates who qualified for admission this year.
The inability of the university to admit more applicants is due to limited academic, residential and other facilities.
The university further admitted 48 postgraduate students, bringing the number of postgraduate students to 177, constituting 11.6 per cent of the total student population.
The Vice Chancellor of the university Professor Daniel Mireku-Gyimah, announced this at the fifth matriculation of the university at Tarkwa at the weekend.
He explained that the 239 female students constituting 15.65 per cent of the total student population might not sound very significant in the mining and hardcore engineering environment, which had hitherto been the preserve of men.
“During this year’s admission for example, every female student who qualified for admission was automatically admitted,” he said.
Professor Mireku-Gyimah noted that in this year’s admission list, students from Ghana Secondary Technical School (GSTS) formed the highest proportion with 35 students, followed by Tarkwa Senior High School which had 18 students, with Mfantsipim Senior High School coming third with 17 students.
He said the university also had students from the less-endowed schools, such as Huni Valley Senior High School, Amaniampong Senior High School, Twene Amanfo Senior High School, Walewale Senior High School and Dzodze Penyi Senior High School.
“Against this background, it is important for you, our fresh students, to appreciate your privileged status and make good use of the opportunity offered to you and the training resources put at your disposal,” he advised.
The vice chancellor reiterated that the vision of the university was to become a centre of excellence in Ghana and Africa for training world-class professionals in the fields of engineering, management science and information technology.
“Certainly, UMaT is on the move to become a Centre of Excellence for training world-class professionals in engineering, management science and information technology,” he stated.
“In line with this vision, and to make our graduates more valuable on the international market, we have revised the content of our academic programmes to include courses which are relevant to modern-day industrial practice,” he said.
Very soon, he said a special course in French language would be introduced as an elective for the students and staff of the university.
Professor Mireku-Gyimah announced that by next academic year, the university would admit students to the Environmental Science, Social Responsibility and Safety Engineering Department, while the Languages Section would become a servicing department of languages.
The university admitted 20 international students from Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroun, La Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone, bringing the total number of international students to 62.