General News of Wednesday, 8 October 2003

Source: GNA

University students against dismissal of colleagues

Legon, Oct 8, GNA - The University Students Association of Ghana (USAG) has attributed the withdrawal of the 147 students from the University of Ghana to the poor state of academic and residential infrastructure in the nation's universities.

In a statement signed by its President, Mr Keli Kesi Delataa, USAG described the notion that the affected students were lazy and academically uninspiring as too simplistic.

He said the public universities are confronted with numerous challenges especially where more than 60 per cent of the total of 60,000 Ghanaian students were non-resident.

The statement said ''these mitigating factors leave today's university students under extreme stress that blunts the individual's brain power and diminishes the quality of contact with the already inadequate academic facilities.''

Spanish Embassy donates books to Legon Language Centre

Legon, Oct 8, GNA - The Spanish Embassy in Ghana has donated books and other educational materials to the Spanish section of the Modern Languages Department of the University of Ghana, Legon.

Presenting the books, the Deputy Head of Mission and Consul at Spanish Embassy, Mr Alvaro Kirk Patrick de la Vega, said the donation was in recognition of the importance Spain attached to education in Ghana and pledged the Embassy's continuous support to the department.

The Dean of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ghana, Professor Kwesi Yankah, said Spanish is increasingly becoming an important language in the world.

He appealed to the Embassy of Spain to support the university in its attempt to re-institute "the year abroad programme" for Spanish students of the University.

Prof Yankah said the programme would help the students become proficient in the language and expressed the university's appreciation to the Embassy for the donation.