The Koforidua Polytechnic has admitted 2,026 students for the 2010/2011 academic year to pursue courses in Higher National Diplomas, Diplomas, Technicians and Craft courses. The Polytechnic received a total of 3,331 applications. A total of 794 of the fresh students are females representing 39.1 percent while the males are 1,232, representing 60.81 percent. Mr Samuel Okae-Adjei, acting rector of the Polytechnic, announced this at the 15th matriculation ceremony of the Polytechnic, at the weekend. He said compared to the 2009/2010 admissions season, this academic year witnessed a modest decrease in the number of female acceptance from 42.83 percent, last year, to 39.19 percent. “However, the total number of students accepting the offer of admission and registering increased from 1,847 in 2009/2010 academic year to 2,026 this year, representing an increase of 9.12 percent.” Mr Okae-Adjei said the Polytechnic in line with its Admissions’ Policy endeavours to find alternative placements for all qualified applicants to the best of its ability and maintain a gender balance of the students admitted. He said the student population had increased from 4,165 in the 2009/2010 academic year to 4,570 this academic year. Mr Okae-Adjei announced that the polytechnic had been given accreditation by the National Accreditation Board to run two more Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes, namely: HND Secretaryship and Management Studies and HND Building Technology. Furthermore, he said, plans were far advanced in the accreditation process for the HND Civil Engineering programme. “All these programmes will come on Board this academic year,” he stated. Mr Okae-Adjei, therefore, urged those interested, to apply when the advertisement are placed in the national dailies in the course of the month. He indicated that the Polytechnic had ensured that the required equipment needed for the smooth take-off of these programmes are in place to give the students the much needed learning experience to become relevant in the world of work. Mr Okae-Adjei reminded the students that their continued stay in the polytechnic would be determined by their performance in the examinations, organized by the Polytechnic. He encouraged them to carefully read all regulations guiding the conduct of examinations at the polytechnic. “You need to study hard and also conduct yourself properly during all examinations as cheating in examinations as well as poor performance will lead to the interruption or termination of your study”. Mr Okae-Adjei announced that at the end of the Second Semester Examinations of the Polytechnic, 10 students were dismissed, one was rusticated for two semesters and five were severely reprimanded for their involvement in various kinds of examinations malpractices. “In addition to these, some students have been put on probation for poor academic performance with one semester to redeem themselves otherwise, they would be withdrawn.” He sounded a strong word of caution to all students that ‘ponding’ was not permitted in the Polytechnic and the sanction against such misconduct is outright dismissal. GNA