Accra, Nov. 23, GNA - Over 1,000 fresh students have been admitted into the University of Ghana, Legon's first Distance Learning programme in Bachelor of Arts and Science degrees which commences December 1st this year.

The programme, which is about half the cost of what on-campus students pay, would be accorded the same privileges as those residents on the main University campus at Legon.

Speaking at the launch of the programme on Friday, Professor Clifford Nii Boye Tagoe, Vice Chancellor of the University said: "...the quality of the programme and admission requirements are the same as those offered on campus."

He said the programme falls perfectly inline with the University of Ghana's vision and would be run by the Institute of Adult Education of the University of Ghana,

Prof. Tagoe said Distance Education has globally become the greatest solution for increasing admission into the universities, decongestion of campuses and efficient utilisation of time and space.

Providing much details of the programme, Mr Daniel Oduro-Mensah, Acting Director of the Institute of Adult Education said Centres would be provided in all the ten regions to enable students attend tutorials and interact with lecturers from time to time.

He said for the first year, the Distance Education Centre would offer Faculty of Arts and Social Studies courses with initial programmes in Geography, Resource Development, Economics, Sociology, Psychology and Linguistics.

"In the coming years, more and more courses would be developed and added to the Distance Education courses on offer," he said. Mr Oduro-Mensah said the provision of regional centre fell in line with the University's policy of providing quality education for all adding that, very soon courses would be electronic mediated for the students.

This meant that courses would be offered through emails, video conferencing, Video Compact Discs (VCDs) and other electronic media. Mr Oduro-Mensah explained that the Distance Education modules had been carefully edited and validated by the departments concerned and certified as up-to-date.

"Students on the programme will be provided with study centres, tutoring and counselling, face-to-face session, library services, information sharing computer mediated services," he said. Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Education, Science and Sports who launched the programme said government valued human resources development through enhancement of access to quality education for the people.

He said one of the reasons for the government's commitment and support for distance learning was to provide access for qualified candidates, who for lack of space on the main campus and financial reasons could not pursue tertiary education. He noted that without resourcing the universities, the noble objective might not be achieved.