Wa, Oct. 26, GNA - The Government has allocated twenty million Ghana cedis from the President's Endowment Fund Initiative as seed money for the University of Development Studies to develop its infrastructure. Professor David Milliar, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University who announced this at Wa on Monday, said the University would be given two million Ghana cedis annually from the total amount for the next ten years. He said a letter to that effect had been received from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and there were indications that the Ministry would soon release part of the funds towards the execution of projects in the University.

Professor Milliar was speaking at the 17th Matriculation of the University at the Wa Campus during which first year students were formally inducted.

The students swore an oath to abide by all the rules and regulations governing the conduct of junior members of the University. Professor Milliar said the University received a total of 12,450 applications for its under-graduate programmes for the 2009/2010 academic year out which it admitted 8,743 students for Degree programmes, representing 80 per cent of the qualified applicants. Another 847 applicants were offered admission to pursue Diploma programmes and that brought the current total student population to 14,800 up from 5,400 four years ago.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor urged the students to use the appropriate communication channels to resolve their individual and collective problems and in seeking redress. He said this would help maintain a conducive atmosphere for academic work on the various campuses. Mr Mahmud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister, condemned the practice by landlords in the Wa Municipality who were taking advantage of the students to increase rents.

He asked the landlords association in the town to strengthen their relationship with the University authorities so that they could agree on charging rents that were affordable to the students. Mr. Khalid expressed concern about the high number of students that had lost their lives in Wa through motor accidents and urged the student leadership to initiate measures to address the issue. 26 Oct. 09