University of Health and Allied Sciences has matriculated 1,135 students for the 2020/2021 academic year at ceremony streamed on YouTube for the first time, this past Saturday the 20th of February. Matriculants tuned in from the safety of their residences, and signed their oaths by logging in to a URL. The virtual Matriculation Ceremony has been necessitated by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Ghana.
The number of matriculants represents 47% of the 2425 that were offered admission, out of 6,720 applications received by the University. These students will be pursuing programmes at the undergraduate and postgraduate (MPH, MPhil and PhD) levels at UHAS. This group includes the first batch of students of the newly created School of Sports and Exercise Medicine.
Addressing the new entrants, Vice-Chancellor Professor John Owusu Gyapong stated that UHAS is doing everything possible to ensure that infrastructure needs are met through various initiatives, such as using internally generated funds to put up hostels. He said construction of the School of Nursing and Midwifery block and the main administration block would commence in March 2021 as part of the China Phase II project.
Professor Gyapong also indicated that the School of Dentistry would have its first intake of students in the 2021/2022 academic year. The new school will be incubated in the School of Medicine. He also reported progress in construction work on the School of Public Health at Fodome near Hohoe.
The Vice Chancellor also used the opportunity to encourage students to protect each other from the Coronavirus disease by willingly getting tested for the virus any time they feel unwell or experience symptoms of the disease.