The University of Education Winneba (UEW) has been asked to expand access to career specific courses and programmes to enable many people improve their level of education.
Mr. Samuel Yaw Adusei, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, who made the appeal, said university education, was key to the development of every country.
He said it provided skills for critical and analytical thinking so that students could objectively analyse situations towards finding lasting solutions to socio-economic challenges facing the country.
Speaking at the 17th congregation of the UEW at the College of Technology Education in Kumasi on Saturday, Mr Adusei commended the university authorities for decentralizing university education and devising programmes for many workers to access university education in the country.
The congregation was to confer degrees and diplomas on students from the northern sector of the country, who pursued various programmes through the Institute for Educational Development and Extension (IEDE) (distance education).
Mr Adusei said the country stood to gain tremendously if access to quality education was increased in the country.
Government would continue to provide the requisite infrastructure and innovation to enhance the development of quality and accessible education at all levels of education.
Mr. Adusei congratulated the graduands for furthering their education and advised them to utilize the knowledge acquired to enable them to contribute meaningfully to the development process of the country.
Professor Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw, Vice Chancellor of UEW, said a total of 11,038 students of the distance education mode would graduate this year.
Four thousand eight hundred and three (4803) are males while 6233 are females.
Prof. Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw said UEW had made giant strides in the delivery of distance education in the country.
Among them are the acquisition of land by the Centre for Distance Education (CDE) to build facilities for five study centres in Cape Coast, Onwe near Ejisu, Kukurantumi, Techiman and Sogakope.
It has also introduced Master of Education programmes in Science, Mathematics and English by distance while the Post-Graduate Diploma programme in Mentorship had been converted to a Master of Education programme by distance mode.
Prof. Asabere-Ameyaw said as part of its expansion programme, UEW would transform the Techiman Distance Education Centre into a College of Distance Education with a Principal as the head.
He said this would make the Centre the hub of distance education activities in UEW.
Prof. Asabere-Ameyaw expressed concern about frequent labour agitations on university campuses, and appealed to the government to be find solutions to the problem.
