THE Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Professor Haruna Yakubu, has implored fresh postgraduate students of the university to work hard to earn their degrees because the university awards students with degrees based on merit.
According to him, some postgraduate students had delayed in completing their courses because they had failed to meet the requirements, which would qualify them to earn their degrees.
He, therefore, encouraged the fresh students to work hard to enable them graduate within the next two to four years, depending on the duration of their programmes.
Prof. Yakubu made these remarks at an orientation ceremony held for fresh postgraduate students of the UDS at its Graduate School in Tamale.
The university has admitted 286 fresh students to pursue various graduate programmes, on both sandwich and full-time basis.
This figure, according to Prof. Yakubu, is the biggest intake of postgraduate students ever since the graduate school commenced seven years ago.
“The introduction of career-oriented graduate programmes aimed at meeting the aspirations of people working in the field of development has contributed greatly to the increased number of students,” he explained.
He noted that the number of graduating students over the years was undesirable, adding that, this required concerted efforts to improve upon the situation.
“Although the university management has nurtured the policy of graduating students on time, the achievement of this goal depends largely on student efforts,” he remarked, and stressed the need for students to focus on their studies to achieve good results within the course periods.
The professor again cautioned the fresh students to shun any form of examination malpractice as that may cut short their academic pursuit.
“There are rules and regulations governing the conduct of examination in this university, which must be observed. Examination malpractices would not be accepted and anybody caught in such an act would be punished,” he stressed.
The Dean of the Graduate School, Dr Israel Dzomeku, asked the students to be mindful of the fact that the UDS was established to train professionals who would be practically oriented, without sacrificing academic excellence.
He said was also established to train development practitioners who can help find solutions to the development challenges facing communities, particularly those in the northern sector of the country.
The UDS has introduced a number of sandwich career-oriented programmes over the past few years and these include Master of Philosophy in Development Studies, Master of Arts in Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Management and Rural Development and also Master of Arts (MA) in Environmental Security and Livelihood Change.
Two additional programmes MA in Business Planning and Microfinance and MA in Leadership and Developmenthave been introduced this year.
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