The University of Ghana (UG) for the first time, has held three simultaneous matriculation at its Accra City Campus, Kumasi, and Tamale Distance Education (DE) Learning Centres.

Matriculants at the Accra City Campus were drawn from Accra, Cape Coast, Tsito, Koforidua and Takoradi Learning Centres, while that of the Kumasi and Sunyani centres took place in Kumasi; whereas the Tamale centre hosted students from Tamale, Bolgatanga and Wa centres.

Addressing the matriculants at the Accra City Campus, Professor Ernest Ayittey, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of UG, said, for the first time, matriculation ceremonies were being held concurrently in three regional learning centres, as part of the long-term goal to transform the regional centres into satellite campuses of the University.

He said there had being a number of changes in the DE mode of the University starting from the 2014/2015 academic year which aimed at improving on delivery and making the distance learning mode more attractive to students.

The VC mentioned that one of such changes was the restructuring and expansion of the programmes on offer.

Prof Ayittey announced that programmes being offered had been expanded to include Nursing and Information Technology.

He said the Nursing programme, run in conjunction with the School of Nursing, had proven to be particularly popular in most regional centres.

He disclosed tha a total of 653 applications were received this academic year for Nursing, out of which 513 were admitted and 450 enrolled, representing 38 per cent of the total number of enrolled DE students.

The VC said the Bachelor of Science in Administration and Bachelor of Arts programmes remained popular choices for their DE students, with 346 and 367 students respectively accepting offers this academic year.

He pointed out that there were 21 students enrolled in their newly-introduced Bachelor of Science programme in Information Technology, which for this academic year was being offered at the Accra City Campus.

On the general enrolment, the VC observed that figures for the 2014/2015 academic year were up from last year’s figure of 775 to 1184, representing a 52 per cent increase.

“We are working hard as a University to not only to increase the numbers of our students in the Distance Learning mode, but also to improve the facilities and learning experiences that our students have,” Prof Ayittey stated.

“Starting from this year, DE students were admitted to their regional centres, and with the improvement of facilities in the centres, the students will have all tutorials and examinations in their centres, without having to come down to Legon, as has been the practice over the years,” he added.

He said the collegiate system which was implemented at the beginning of this academic year would provide more room for innovations at the school and college levels, and the semi-autonomous nature of the colleges would enable them take more decisions on their academic programmes and administration.

Prof Ayittey recounted that the University recently inaugurated a $ 37.5 million Information Communication Technology (ICT) project for its DE programme under the Chinese Phase Two ICT Project.

He said the project, funded with a Chinese Government loan procured by the Ghana Government on behalf of UG, had deployed an integrated Digital Mobile Learning platform for DE.

“This is part of a larger set of activities reflecting the strong desire of UG to use ICT as a major strategy in achieving its future goals,” Prof Ayittey said.

The VC said as part of the project, the Accra, Koforidua, Sunyani, Takoradi, Tsito and Wa Centres had been equipped with modern facilities; with each centre provided with ultra-modern computer labs, smart classrooms, a video conference facility, backup generators and outdoor Wi-Fi.

He noted that in addition, as part of the project; 3000 internet enabled android tablets had been acquired; pre-loaded with the relevant teaching and learning materials, and distributed to newly admitted students.

Prof Ayittey said the DE programme was therefore, in the process of moving away from paper-based teaching materials to Sakai, an eLearning platform, which has enhanced teaching and learning.

“Also as part of the plan to grow regional learning centres into campuses of the University, work has started on the rehabilitation and refurbishment of the regional learning centres,” the VC said.

Prof Ayittey further urged the students to take their studies seriously and determine to be part of the 2017 and 2018 graduating classes for those admitted to level 200 and 100 respectively.