Professor David Miller, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies on Tuesday urged UDS students to take their Third Trimester Field Practical Programme seriously as it was what distinguished the institution from other universities. The TTFPP is an intensive engagement and interactive process that introduces the student to community studies in the first year and enables him together with the communities to identify the development problems and challenges in the second year and on that basis work together with the community to formulate specific interventions. Professor Miller said this at Nyankpala when he addressed 2,628 first year students who are going for the TTFPP in selected communities in the Northern Region. He said the UDS was established with a specific focus and mandate "To blend the academic world with that of the community in order to provide constructive interaction between the two for the total development of northern Ghana in particular, and the country as a whole". He said the UDS had adopted an approach to teaching and learning which placed emphasis on practically oriented research and field-based training aimed at contributing towards poverty reduction in order to accelerate national development. The Pro-Vice Chancellor said the TTFPP had a direct relevance to the government's decentralisation programme and had gained a lot of popularity as a result. He said through the programme the UDS had been able to expose practically both students and lecturers to the development problems of deprived communities and fostered favourable attitudes in students towards working in deprived communities upon completion of their courses. Dr. Francis Z. K. Bacho, Director of the TTFPP said the programme, which started in 1995, had undertaken a lot of research tailored to community development. He said the main challenge facing the programme was finance, which included transporting the students to the field, feeding and supporting lecturers to go into the field to monitor and supervise the activities of the students. Source: GNA