2,000 University of Liberia Students Suspended

Following the massive failure of 25,000 candidates, who recently wrote the University of Liberia entry exams, the NewDawn has independently gathered that the UL Administration has put on probation about 2,000 students from various colleges for poor academic performance.

The UL has a total student population of 33,000. This includes students for various graduate programs, Law and Medical students.

This figure is expected to increase this academy semester by 2,426 new comers, which include students who sat the 2011/2012 placement exams and the 1,626 students that passed the recent entry exams in which 25, 000 failed. This will bring the total student population to 35,426 students.

These students, according to highly placed sources at the nation's premier higher institutions, will not enter this semester, which is the first. And since the University does not admit students during the second semester due to the University's new policy and regulations, these suspended students will have to forego two before readmission.

This paper further gathered that the UL administration took the decision after it realized that following three academic semesters, many of the students enrolled have performed poorly in their academic sojourn, leaving the administration with no option, but to promptly respond to the high level of delinquency of students in their respective studies.

Our source confided in this paper that Dr. Dennis and the entire UL Administration are shocked by the number of students being placed on probation.

The source noted that the students are not giving much attention to their studies, as a result, the grades of students, who started on a good note, have declined drastically, creating the impression that teaching staff are not presenting the rightful materials.

The source further explained that the high number of students being placed on probation serves as a warning, stressing that those students who will fail to get off the probation list in the next semester will be automatically expelled from the University.

The NewDawn also gathered that during a recent meeting held with Dr. Dennis and heads of various colleges and departments, the administration expressed bitterness about students abandoning their lessons and assignments to engage in national politics.

"In that meeting, the administration said one of the major reasons students are dropping in their lessons is because they are fully engaged in national politics, making their services available to politicians to be used, forgetting that to read their lessons and do research to complete their assignments or to even be informed", the source added. The Vice President for University Relations, Dr. Momolu Gateweh, who was contacted Thursday afternoon via mobile phone, confirmed the information, but added that he's not aware of the total number of students being affected.

He said heads of various departments have submitted names of students facing probation and that by next week, the names will be placed on the bulletin board on campus for public viewing.

"By next week, the names of students that are on probation will be placed on the bulletin for public consumption. But I cannot tell you the total number of students affected from the process. It was discussed and finalized but to tell you now that this amount uprightly no; because I don't know the total number", Dr. Gateweh said.