Kumasi, June 28, GNA - Professor William Otoo Ellis, Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has spoken of a change in the re-opening date for first year students to allow for the admission of Senior High School students who had just finished writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). The university has decided to offer admission to them alongside the regular system when their results are released and they are likely to report in late September.

Prof Ellis said the arrangement was meant to assist make up for th= e one year gap, resulting from the change over from three to four years of th= e SHS programme. "It is important that we admit them straight so as to manage the impending challenges that loom ahead of us in 2013 when we would have two batches of final year students coming out from the SHS". He was addressing the 2011 congregation of the KNUST School of Graduate Studies in Kumasi. Prof Ellis said continuing students would report on August 19. Prof Ellis said arrangements were conditioned on the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) fulfilling its promise to release this year's WASSCE results by August 23. The ceremony saw a total of 573 students graduating with 36 passing out with degrees and the rest receiving masters' degree in various programmes= .. The School had been in existence since 1974 to promote high quality graduate programmes.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, the Asantehene and Chancellor of the University, said higher education in science and technology had become the driving forc= e behind national growth and development. The university authorities, he said, would therefore strive to maintai= n quality and internationally-acclaimed standards of higher education.