Monrovia – The President of the University of Liberia, Dr. Ophelia Weeks, has expressed concern over poor participation of students in completing their registration after the process was extended as a result of protest by the students.
Report by Willie N. Tokpah – [email protected]
The administration reopened the registration on Wednesday, February 7, and announced that it will last until March 10.
According to Dr. Weeks, out of the 8,000 students expected to complete their registration, the institution has recorded only 37 so far.
The UL administration came under criticism from students for the closure of the registration, thus leading to frequent protests in early February.
The administration claimed it closed registration on grounds that students did not take advantage of opportunity provided them to complete their process after it was extended on three occasions.
But the institution later reversed its decision to end registration following a meeting with student leaders and state officials who appealed for the process to be reopened.
In a communication to FrontPageAfrica Monday, Weeks said it was disheartening to see few students in the registration queue, when student leaders had filed a petition to the administration that 8,000 are expected to register during the process.
“Approximately 8,000 students, according to the petition filed by student leaders, are expected to register during the process. One of the ways to avoid a breakdown in the registration process is for students to register early on,” Dr. Weeks said.
She is encouraging students who failed to register during the regular process to take advantage of the re-opened registration process rather than waiting for “last minutes.”
Dr. Weeks’ call comes following her visits of registration centers on the Capitol Hill and Fendall campuses where she observed there were poor turnouts of students.
However, Weeks assured students that the university has streamlined the registration process to guarantee a smooth process devoid of delay and bottlenecks.
“One of the changes to the registration process involves verification.”
“A post verification exercise will be performed by the Business and Finance Office and the Internal Audit Unit of University of Liberia to ensure that fictitious transactions are voided,” Week said in the communication.
Dr. Weeks further indicated that registration staffs have been trained and instructed to assist all students during their registration period.
Dr. Weeks: “According to the new registration procedure, students who make payment at the bank must make three copies of the registration documents and submit two copies to their departments for processing.
The registration document will be subsequently taken to the Electronic Data Processing (EDP) for completion of registration, and students will be notified on when to pick up their completed registration document.”
Meanwhile, the UL President noted that with the extension of the registration process for the ongoing semester, the administration will not accept further basis for offering first semester courses in the second semester.
Dr. Weeks, at the same time, said there will be no grounds for waiver of re-admission fees since all students have the opportunity to register.