The Vice-Chancellor said admission of females into the sea-going programmes of Nautical Science and Marine Engineering has increased from eight last academic year to sixteen for this academic year.

He commended the Ghana Shipper Authority for instituting a scholarship scheme for needy but brilliant female students in Marine Engineering.

Prof Nyarko, speaking at the 17th Matriculation of the University, said "This means that the University's drive of encouraging more females to take up sea-going programmes is achieving good results."

He said during the 2019/2020 admission exercise, the University offered admission to 890 postgraduate and undergraduate applicants from both member and non-member countries, out of which 577 which is 64.8 per cent accepted and have thus registered.

The number of students enrolled is made up of 54 postgraduate and 523 undergraduate students and of the total figure, 465 are males and 112 are females.

He said the University's programmes were very competitive and market-driven and equipped their students to be able to solve problems in the maritime and allied industries.

"The University, therefore, continues to focus on her pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and service to society as enshrined in our vision and mission," he added.

The Vice-Chancellor said RMU continues to pride itself as a globally branded University for education, research and consultancy in maritime and allied fields and also strives to be the best institution in Africa.

"To students and parents, I will like to assure you that the University will uphold, protect and ensure the peaceful stay of all students in the Regional Maritime University," he said.

He said Management would endeavour to improve on teaching and learning facilities within the limited financial resources of the University to create a congenial learning environment.

He advised student to make the most of their time here at RMU and avoid procrastination, although, "your graduation may come on in two or four years' time, you will soon realise that it will come sooner than you expect because as the saying goes, "time flies"."

He urged them to "shun deviant behaviour and other vices that could jeopardize their dream of what they want to be and endeavour to strike a balance between your studies and religious activities".

He said the days, where jobs were easy to obtain in the Public Service immediately after completion of University education was no longer the case, that meant, they must also prepare themselves adequately to set-up their own jobs after school.

"It is for this reason that here at RMU, we have designed our curricula to combine theory with practical hands-on as well as supervised internships to prepare you for the task ahead. Our records indicate that over 70 per cent of RMU graduates, especially those, who pursue sea-going programmes gain employment immediately after graduation with the remaining gaining employment within two years after their national service.

He said the University was committed to seeing that they trained the students to acquire all the necessary skills that will give them the value addition they required after graduation.