The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) has turned down about 2,324 applications for the 2019/2020 academic year due to limited academic facilities, financial challenges and human resources.

The Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University, Professor Jerry Kuma, said many of the applicants had good grades but because of those challenges they had to turn down their applications.

Professor Kuma said this at the 15th Matriculation ceremony of UMaT to officially admit fresh students into its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

“As parents ourselves we know how it feels to turn away qualified young men and women with good grades,” he lamented.

The Vice-Chancellor said the institution was working closely with the Government to solve the infrastructural challenges to enable them to admit more students next year as a result of the Free Senior High School Policy.

In all 3,005 applications were received out of which 681 students, representing 23 per cent of the total applicants, are undergraduate students including foreign nationals.

Out of this figure 461, representing 68 per cent, are males while 218, representing 32 per cent, are females.

This percentage increase in female enrolment is the highest in UMaT’s history as the University was working seriously to encourage more females to study engineering.

In the area of postgraduate admissions, he said the University admitted 197 students out of the 215 applications to pursue various programmes leading to the award of MSc, MPhil and PhD degrees, adding that that brought the total postgraduate population to 358, which was 12 percent of the current total student enrolment of 2,790.

The University, for this academic year, has mounted a number of demand-driven certificate programmes including Survey and Mapping, Water Resource Management, Geological Assistantship, Small Scale Mining and Quarrying, Minerals Technology, Environmental Studies and Occupational Health and Safety.

Thirty-one students have been admitted to form the maiden batch of those certificate programmes, Professor Kuma noted.

He entreated the students to remain focused throughout their stay on campus, place premium on their academic work by being regular at lectures, carry out all their assignments and avoid unacceptable behaviour such as smoking.

He assured parents that management of the University would do their utmost best to guide their wards and give them the necessary skills that would propel them into a future with many opportunities.