The purpose of the meeting was to welcome both the fresh and continuing students, and especially to orient the fresh students on specific departmental issues as a way of easing their integration into the Department.

Dr. Yaw Asamoah, who moderated the meeting, welcomed participants to the ceremony and urged them to observe the COVID- 19 protocols.

Addressing participants, a Medical Geographer with the Department, Dr. Kojo Oppong Gyabaah, took them through undergraduate courses and timetable, and observing COVID-19 protocols. He said “the University will be using a hybrid timetable instead of the normal face-to-face lecture timetable due to Covid-19 pandemic. So with the hybrid timetable, we will combine both face-to-face (seat time) with online learning. For online, we will use the Learning Management System (LMS)”.

He explained “the continuing students will have one hour face-to-face and two hours online learning. And for the level 100 students, because they are used to face-to-face and may not have access to devices that can allow them to have interaction online for a long time, they will have one hour online tutorials and then two hours face-to-face for every course that they will be doing”.

Dr. Gyabaah also briefed participants on the registration processes and medical examination. He urged all fresh and continuing students to fulfil their financial obligation by paying their prescribed fees in full at the beginning of the academic year or otherwise, make necessary arrangements as stipulated by the University to enable them to register their courses.

He entreated all level 100 students to undergo the medical examination at the University clinic as part of the registration process. “The registration of fresh students cannot be complete unless the university medical examination has been passed.”

Closing the meeting, a Social Geographer and Senior Lecturer, Dr. Esther Danso-Wiredu advised students to establish a good relationship with one another on campus. She stated, “it is important to establish a relationship with everyone you meet, it’s through this you’ll know who has the links. So, make sure you get to know people not in the negative aspect but in a positive way”.

Also present were the Vice-Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences Education, Dr. Ishmael Yaw Dadson; Head, Department of Geography Education, Dr. Enoch F. Sam; Medical Geographer, Dr. Adjoa Afriyie Poku; Development Geographer, Dr. Benedict Afful amongst others.