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Government to address challenges of
UDS - President
Tamale, Dec. 16, Ghanadot/GNA - Government is determined to
ensure that the University for Development Studies (UDS)
Medical School gets accreditation before 2009, President
John Agyekum Kufuor has assured.
He noted that the staffing situation of the of the Faculty
of Medicine had improved from four as at the year 2000, when
it was denied accreditation to 39 as at November this year.
President Kufuor said this in an address read for him by
Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister, at
the eighth congregation of the UDS in Tamale on Saturday.
He said the government was committed to assisting the
younger public universities that were established during
unfavourable economic times to deliver quality education.
Discussions for the bulk release of seed money for the UDS
and the University of Mines and Technology were on going to
find out how the infrastructural inadequacies of the two
universities could be addressed without causing financial
imbalances to the economy, he said.
President Kufuor announced that contracts to refurbish the
Tamale Regional Hospital into a Teaching Hospital were
almost completed and urged the University Management to
intensify its search for specialist clinicians in and around
Tamale to support the clinical training of UDS medical
students.
President Kufuor called on the
Management of the UDS to take a cue from the recent
revelations at the Public Accounts Committee hearings and
learn to be prudent in financial transactions.
"As a deprived university, I strongly urge a more judicious
use of the little resources that come to the UDS", he said.
President Kufuor said it was government's hope that the
grandaunts would be true disciples of the new thinking in
development from the heart of Northern Ghana and stay
committed to the catchments area of the university so that
the development gap between the North and the South would be
bridged.
Professor Kaku Sagary Nokoe, Acting Vice-Chancellor of UDS
said the new educational reforms would put more pressure on
the universities and other tertiary institutions and
demanded that the funding levels of these institutions
should be put to public debate.
He urged government to revisit the issue of "reasonable"
fees charged by public universities in place of reduced
subvention, adding that the universities would in turn
increase enrolment by 10 per cent to support fee paying
applicants.
He said the university was also putting in place the
necessary facilities to start and expand distance learning
as a solution to the challenge of increasing numbers.
Professor Nokoe said due to the geographical spread of the
UDS, distance learning would make a significant impact on
the educational landscape of rural Ghana.
The Vice-chancellor commended the government for
establishing the Northern Development Fund (NDF) and
suggested that parts of the Fund could be used to address
issues of the environment and sustainable economic ventures.
Mr Daniel Charles Gyimah, Chairman of the University
Council, expressed concern that the Third Trimester Field
Practical Programme (TTFPP) of the University was in danger
because of the recent floods that hit some parts of the
Northern Region.
"The mandate to engage in field practical training has
become an expensive venture for a University that is
under-funded", he said.
He commended the GETFund, which had complemented
government's support in the construction of lecture halls,
laboratories, ICT centres, hostels and libraries in all the
campuses of the UDS.
GNA
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