University of Technology hopefuls have not been given spaces due to lack of resources, and the administration wants the Government to increase its funding allocation.
Acting Vice-Chancellor Prof Rahim Milani said demand from students wanting to pursue studies at the University of Technology was high but lack of resources at the university was denying them spaces.
Prof Milani said the demand increased every year with Grade 12 students matriculating from more than 20 secondary schools and the four traditional national high schools in the country.
He said the reform in the education system had created a wide demand. However, the Government was unable to properly resource the higher learning institutions to cater for such need.
Prof Milani said the university was set to start its 2008 academic year, but lack of students’ accommodation was a major setback.
Alternatives were sought to accommodate students at rental places, where the university might fork out K250 million in costs, Prof Milani said.
The university was allocated almost K30 million in the 2008 Budget with a further K2 million in the development budget.
Together with monies raised internally the university maintains its running costs.
A bigger problem the University of Technology faces now was to provide alternative accommodation to almost 600 students, both continuing and new intakes for the academic year.
Prof Milani said negotiations with the Government to build dormitories would be a long-term solution, but the university administration had fallen back on the previous arrangement in accommodating its students at the Telikom Training College, which is adjacent to the university and the Okari campus.
He said it would be proper for the Government to increase funding or make students pay through the user-pay policy.
Prof Milani said the university council had approved the staff ceiling and qualified staff had been recruited from both within and abroad to kick start the academic year, which is to start on the last week of this month.