UENR governing council inaugurated
The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has inaugurated a 12-member governing council for the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), with a call on the council to provide support and direction to surmount challenges facing the university.
Advertisement
The council, which is to replace an interim one that governed the university since it was established three years ago, has a former Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor John S. K Ayim, as its chairman .
Growth
The university, which started with a student population of 154 in the 2012/2013 academic year, currently has a student population of 1,603 and a total of 100 students undertaking its top-up programmes.
It currently runs 19 different academic programmes in its schools of Engineering; Natural Resources; Sciences; and Agriculture and Technology.
Challenges
Briefing the minister about the operations of the university, its Vice Chancellor, Professor Esi Awuah, said the institution was facing challenges such as inadequate classrooms, as well as students and staff accommodation.
Others include laboratories, library, staff recruitment and inadequate funding.
Addressing members of the council, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said “The ministry has been aware of the stress that lack of funding has caused this institution”, and added that “The ministry has never failed to respond to calls to address challenges of the school and has pursued requests of the university with due diligence”.
She said the government established the university as part of efforts to promote access to tertiary education in the country and advised the council to communicate its plans to the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) so that such plans could be budgeted for.
She expressed the hope that the council would rise to the occasion and discharge its duties diligently.
Other Trending Stories
Vice Chancellor
Prof. Awuah thanked the members of the Interim Council of the university for providing strategic directions and superintending over activities of the university over the past three years.
She said the university’s mandate was to train human resources for the energy and natural resources sectors of the country.
According to Prof. Awuah, “the university has been working to achieve its mandate through a series of innovative and transformational processes in teaching and learning to turn out graduates with unquestionable output.”
Prof Ayim
The Chairman of the Council, Prof. Ayim thanked the government for the confidence reposed in the members and gave the assurance that they would work diligently to achieve the aims and objectives for the establishment of the university.
He was hopeful that the government would provide the institution with special support so that the needed infrastructure and equipment could be put in place to facilitate teaching and learning in the university.