The University of Cape Coast (UCC) admitted 12,407 students to various academic prorammes of the Centre for Continuing Education during the current academic year 2011/12. This is made up of 3,632 students in Business and its related programmes and 8,775 in education programmes. The Vice Chancellor of the UCC, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, made this known at the matriculation ceremony of distance education students. Professor Opoku-Agyemang said the figure represented an increase of 18 per cent over last year's figures and that the total percentage of females admitted this year was 41 per cent. She described the figure as quite an appreciable improvement and urged females to take advantage of the flexible mode to higher education. The Vice Chancellor said the regional distribution of the admission showed that out of 5,084 females admitted nationwide 1, 221 were from the Ashanti Region, followed by Greater Accra with 1,004 females, whilst 733 were from the Central Region. Female students admitted from the Western Region were 629 and Brong Ahafo with 522 female students with 356 from the Eastern Region, while the Volta Region had the highest with 2002 females with 155 from the Northern Region, Upper West 151 and Upper East with 141. Professor Opoku-Agyemang appealed to female students to encourage as many of their colleagues with the requisite qualification to also join the programme. She said the activities of the distance education programme had been decentralized to the regions and districts in order to meet the needs of students. She said the mode of delivery of the programme of the centre had so far been only by the print and that time had come for the centre to adopt the multi-media and electronic mode of delivery for its distance education programmes. She said this should include the use of tele-conferencing, radio broadcasts and Internet facilities to beam live lectures from the university to all study centres for students to receive instruction and react to them appropriately. Professor Opoku-Agyemang said the university had embarked on an expansion programme for its facilities in distance education to provide comfortable and adequate lecture space for students on the programme. She advised the students to take advantage of the opportunity to improve their living conditions and those of their families and communities.