Wa, June 29, GNA - Vice Chancellors of Public Universities at the weekend appealed to the government to give special attention to the University for Development Studies to admit and train more development students in the country.

The support and assistance to the University, the chancellors noted, would also reduce the perennial burden on northern parents, who had to sponsor their children to go to school in other Universities in the southern sector of the country.

Professor Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe, Spokesperson of the chancellors made this appeal when they paid a courtesy call on Mr. Mahmud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister at Wa.

The Vice Chancellors were attending a two-day quarterly meeting at Wa to among other things, share common challenges in their various Universities and to find possible solutions. Professor Tagoe who is also the Vice chancellor of the University of Ghana, urged politicians to coordinate effectively with heads of tertiary institutions, to be able to identify the challenges before going public to make policies.

"Sometimes when you make policies without consulting authorities, you end up either not succeeding or you take adhoc measures that might not yield any meaningful results".

The Vice Chancellor appealed to the government to consider giving a special concession to Science and Mathematics students as they paid more for courses in various Universities.

Mr. Mahmud Khalid, Regional Minister also appealed to the Vice Chancellors to continue offering admission to students of less endowed schools, as they had done in the past, as a way of bridging the gap between urban and rural schools.

He attributed the abject poverty in the three northern regions to illiteracy, noting that, it was only education that could help reduce the poverty levels of the people.

The Regional Minister said his outfit was liaising with the Ministry of Roads and Transport to upgrade all the roads in the permanent Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies. Also present at the courtesy call were; Professors Kaku Sangary Nokoe, University for Development Studies, Naana Opoku Agyeman, University of Cape Coast, Mireku Gyimah, University of Mines and Technology and Asabre Ameyaw, University of Education, Winneba.