Reverend Professor Emmanuel Adow-Obeng has suggested that WASSCE students with grade D7 and E8 in the core subjects be allowed to enter the universities through an access course programme.
He said the only option left for students with those grades was to re-sit the examination thus losing almost a year and added that it was possible for private universities to mount access courses for these students.
Rev. Adow-Obeng, who is the president of the Presbyterian University College (PUC), explained that, the access programmes could be done under the supervision of the mentor universities for a specific duration and then be admitted to a full university course.
Speaking at the 15th matriculation of the school at the Akropong campus, he noted that during the A-level times D and E grades qualified people to enter the university and added that “many therefore entered the university with these grades and so let’s consider it seriously”.
The ceremony saw the formal admission of 722 people into the various programmes on the five campuses at Okwahu, Asante-Akyem, Akuapem, Kumasi and Tema to pursue various undergraduate programmes.
Rev Adow-Obeng who is the board chair for the Ghana Broadcasting Corperation mentioned the relief tax given to the private universities as a step in the right direction and while thanking government for that, he also called for the extension of the Getfund for lecturers in the private universities for upgrading.
He announced that to facilitate teaching and learning in the school, the University in collaboration with Vodafone Ghana had issued modems each to the entire student population and each student would enjoy 1.5gigabyte data monthly throughout the year including vacations.
According to him, under this arrangement there would not be any limitations to students’ access to the internet and advised the students to use the opportunity to research into additional files that would support their academic work.
He cautioned that the PUC was a Christian university and believed that faith in God was key to success and reminded the fresh students that the university’s anthem talked about “hard work, humility, perseverance, faithfulness and commitment”, that they needed to uphold to build them up.