22 UPSA students sacked for trying to manipulate IT system for better grades

Twenty-two students of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) have been dismissed for attempting to manipulate the university’s information system to change their grades.
At the ninth congregation and special congregation of the university in Accra last Saturday, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abednego F. Okoe Amartey, said the Academic Board took the decision to dismiss the students at an emergency meeting on February 15, 2017.
“The Academic Board took a serious view of this conduct, considering the potential it has to damage the credibility of the university, and further resolved that seven of the dismissed students who refused to cooperate with the investigation process should have their photographs published alongside their names to serve as a deterrent,” he added.
The identities of the 22 students were not disclosed by the vice-chancellor.
The Congregation
The congregation was on the theme: “Celebrating professional and scholarly excellence for accelerated nation-building”.
Four thousand and seven students graduated, out of which 280 received diplomas, 3,255 bachelor’s degrees and 472 master’s degrees.
Forty-one graduates obtained First Class honours, 783 had Second Class (Upper Division), 1,204 had Second Class (Lower Division), 926 had Third Class, while the remaining 311 had passes.
History
The UPSA was founded in 1965 as a private professional business institution with the name Institute of Professional Studies and was taken over by the government in 1978 by the Institute of Professional Studies Decree, 1978 (SMCD 200).
It was subsequently established as a tertiary institution with a mandate to provide tertiary and professional education in Accountancy, Management and other related areas of study by the Institute of Professional Studies Act, (Act 566), 1999.
In September 2005, the then institute introduced bachelor’s degree programmes to give meaning to the IPS Act 566.
During the last academic year, the university introduced two new academic programmes — Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science and Bachelor of Laws (LL.B).
It is likely to introduce Bachelor of Science in Real Estate Management and Finance, Business Economics, Accounting and Finance and Master of Philosophy in Finance in the 2017/2018 academic year, for which accreditation is said to have advanced steadily.
Prof. Amartey said the university had submitted documents to the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) for the accreditation of programmes in Transport and Logistics Management, Public Administration and Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing for onward submission to the National Accreditation Board (NAB) for approval.
He said the university would continue to invest substantially in infrastructure for the purpose of creating the enabling environment for teaching, learning and research.