The University of Science and Technology School of Mines (USTSM), Tarkwa, on Sunday held its 2000/2001 matriculation ceremony at which 199 students out of 450 candidates who qualified for admission were officially admitted to the school.

Out of the 199 admitted eight were female students, bringing the total number of female students to 26.

Professor John Sefa Kojo Ayim, Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, who administered the matriculation oath, pleaded with the government, private sector and industry to help improve facilities at the school to open more access to the teeming youth.

He thanked the Minister of Mines and Energy for giving the Gold Refinery building at Tarkwa to the school to be converted into a hostel and another 100 million cedis by the ministry towards its rehabilitation.

Prof. Ayim told the freshmen and women to be law-abiding "because such students have no time for hooliganism and acts of indiscipline, which tend to distract them from the purpose for which they were admitted".

He reminded them that their primary responsibility is to acquire good education. Therefore, they should take advantage of the facilities placed at their disposal.

Mrs Esther Lily Nkansah, Western Regional Minister, commended the university authorities for ensuring that science and technology education has increasingly become accessible to women.

She appealed to the female students to work very hard to encourage other female students to break into professions, which for years, was regarded as male preserves.

Mrs Nkansah appealed to the school authorities to make their presence felt in the area of environmental protection to safeguard the health of the people in the mining communities.

Considering the degrading effects of mining on the environment, she was of the belief that "no group of people are in a better position to advise on the issue than the authorities of the school.

Mrs Nkansah, therefore, called on the school to forge collaborative links between the school and bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency, district assemblies and district environmental management committees to play an effective watchdog role to safeguard the integrity of the environment.

In a welcoming address, Professor Daniel Mireku-Gyimah, Principal of the school, said in the 1999/2000 academic year, two students obtained first class with one of them winning the Chamber of Mines award for best graduating student.

He said the school would celebrate its silver jubilee when it becomes affiliated to KNUST, adding that its vision is to develop itself into a university college.

To this end, Prof. Mireku-Gyimah said a position paper has been presented to the Registrar and Vice-chancellor to initiate the necessary administrative measures to organise the school into two faculties that would constitute the college.