UENR receives grant for research

The University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) in Sunyani has received a $1.2 million Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) grant to undertake a research study on Lake Bosomtwe in the Ashanti Region to build its  resilience to climate change.

The research, dubbed “Building Resilience of Lake Bosomtwe to Climate Change (RELAB)”, led by Dr Peter Sanful of the Department of Fisheries and Water of the university, is being undertaken in partnership with four other institutions and is currently ongoing.

The project is under Goal Two of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which envisions that by 2030, the world could end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, among others.

The Vice Chancellor of UENR, Professor Harrison Dapaah, announced this as one of the achievements of the university at its seventh matriculation ceremony in Sunyani recently.

Admission

This year, the university admitted a total of 2,637 students, bringing its student population to 6,501.

Out of those admitted, 2,117 are pursuing undergraduate courses with 655 females, representing 31 per cent, and 1,462  males representing 69 per cent.

In addition, a total of 224 applicants were offered admission to the university’s Master of Philosophy and Doctoral programmes.

Addressing the freshmen and women, Professor Dapaah said the university had been recognised by the Energy Commission as a leader in solar energy and selected as the training centre for Solar PV Installer in the design, installation and maintenance of Off-grid and Grid-tied Solar PV Systems.

“This clearly indicates that this university is an institution that is poised to become a leader in the educational enterprise through active research, teaching and innovation”, he stated, and congratulated the freshers for choosing to study at UENR to enable them to achieve their dream of becoming skilled professionals.

Prof. Dapaah exhorted the matriculants to remember that the distance between the matriculation and convocation ceremony was quite wide and called on them to regularly attend lectures and shun deviant behaviours that would not allow them to achieve their objective.

“This university has zero tolerance for occultism, any form of hooliganism and corruption.

 I need to further advise you to show respect to your colleagues and staff in the university to make your stay fruitful and productive”, he said, and asked them to be modest and decent in their dressing and approach to issues.

Constraints

Prof. Dapaah said even though the university was poised to provide access to university education to as many qualified applicants, it was constrained due to inadequate academic and residential facilities for staff and students.

He indicated that a number of projects, including a two-storey lecture block and a four-storey lecture block, which could have put a total of 24 lecture rooms at the disposal of the university, had come to a standstill.

In addition, the South wing of a 1,600-capacity hostel under construction and the construction of permanent facilities at Dormaa-Ahenkro to house the School of Agriculture and Technology, had also come to a standstill.

Prof. Dapaah called on the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to quickly come to the aid of the university to enable it to address those challenges so it can admit a greater number of qualified applicants.