Winneba(C/R), Feb. 14, GNA - Fifteen students and two officials from the Depauw University of Indiana State in the United State of America (USA) have paid a one-day educational visit to the University of Education, Winneba as part of their five-day educational tour in the Country. Briefing the authorities of the UEW, Mr Loutfi Jirari, International Director of student Services said the visit was to familiarize themselves with the operations of the University of Education, Winneba.

Mr Jirari said internship students of his University at the beginning of every year embarked on educational tours in some selected African Universities to enable those offering courses in geography, economics, computer science and history to gather enough information for their researc= h activities.

He said such visits also offered students the chance to link up with other Universities in Africa to take up different research projects which were mostly sponsored by companies in USA, on completion of their courses. Mr. Jirari emphasized that the gains of such educational tours were enormous since they afforded student the opportunity to ask questions about entry requirements, admission procedures, examinations, student leadership and the operations of the particular University visited.

The students have already visited the University of Cape Coast, University of Ghana, Legon, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi in the course of the tour. Receiving the team, the UEW Director of International Relations, Dr. Jonathan Armmah, expressed joy for the visit.

He said the mandate of the University of Education, Winneba, is to train qualified and competent teachers to feed the nation's tertiary, primary and senior high schools.

The Dean of Students Affairs, Dr. Ernest Awanta explained the internship system of the UEW to the visitors.

He said under the internship, level 300 students (final year) of UEW were made to go on nine (9) months internship training in most of the primary, senior high and tertiary institutions in the country as part of their four-year programme at the University.

Dr. Awanta said during that period, students were assigned to practice teaching in their chosen field of professional discipline and were also mad= e to understudy the subject teacher in the preparation of classroom lessons among others. He said Department lectures are also made to pay unannounced visits to students during such periods to monitor their performance.