By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
Management of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST) in the Ashanti regional capital Kumasi has outlined an elaborate arrangement to receive all prospective first-year students to ensure their seamless transition from home to campus life.
The management has therefore called for calm cooperation and trust in the university to provide the highest of care for their wards starting from their arrival in Kumasi till they settle down at their respective places of residence, either on campus or in private hostels, to enable them to calmly adjust to their new life outside of their homes.
The University Relations Officer, Dr. Daniel Norris Bekoe, gave the assurance during his interaction with GBC’s Ashanti regional correspondent, Nicholas Osei-Wusu.
Recognising that the majority of its fresh students come from outside the host city of Kumasi and that most of these students encounter varied challenges in finding their way around, making them highly vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous people, especially on the first day of arrival, the university’s management, about three years ago, instituted elaborate arrangements to receive the students.
The elaborate plan’s ultimate goal is to guarantee a seamless transition of the children from their respective homes to the university’s premises while helping them to smoothly adjust to campus life.
The University Relations Officer, Dr. Daniel Norris Bekoe, noted that, even though official admission of students has closed, all those with minor admission completion processes, such as the printing out of the admission form as a result of challenges with data entry, have been offered a window of opportunity to come to Campus where support systems have been set up to enable them to finalise the processes.
Touching on the institutional arrangement to warmly welcome all the fresh students, the URO disclosed that the plan covers all the official entry points for both local and foreign students to make them feel comfortable on arrival.
“All of us will be at vantage points to receive them. The University’s forensic system will be helping them to go through the registration process once they arrive. So far, all our systems have been tested and ready to receive them,” he assured.
On residential accommodation, Dr. Bekoe assured that enough arrangements have been made by the University’s management and operators of the more than 500 private hostels around the campus to ensure that every officially admitted student gets a place to reside according to his or her pocket.
Touching on the safety and security of the students, the URO shed light on a robust plan involving both state and internal security setups to protect everyone while on campus.
He said, “From ‘Tek Junction’ right through the main gate where the stool is, the main entrance, to the directorate of Students Affairs where some of the students would converge, and others at the Royal Parade Grounds, we’ll ensure that security personnel are dotted at all vantage points to ensure that we do not have criminals infiltrating to swindle students. …This University has almost 75 percent under CCTV coverage, so our officials will be monitoring from CCTV cameras from that day to ensure that any suspicious happenings would be reported to the security personnel to make sure those things are averted.”
The university has also assured that, despite its huge student population of more than 80,000, it has systems that include institutional, voluntary, and peer counsellors in place to cater to the mental, emotional, and psychological needs of students to ensure constant availability of counselling to address issues of depression.
The URO disclosed that KNUST has officially written to plead with the main transport operators with terminals in Kumasi to ensure that their drivers not only treat the students with utmost care and support but also adhere to road safety while transporting them to avoid preventable accidents.
Meanwhile, the dust has now settled on the controversies and agitations that merged following the conversion of the single-sex traditional Halls of residence into mixed ones, as all stakeholders have come to terms with the need for the policy introduced more than four years ago.
The policy has enabled the university to admit more female students on campus to guarantee their safety, especially as fresh students. The university’s management, about three years ago, instituted elaborate arrangements to receive the students.
The elaborate plan’s ultimate goal is to guarantee a seamless transition of the children from their respective homes to the university’s premises while helping them to smoothly adjust to campus life.
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST, Ghana’s foremost tertiary educational institution in the teaching, study, and research of science, technology, and engineering, has in the past 70 years, remained one of the most preferred destinations of higher learning for local and foreign students.
