UPSA Withholds Graduation of Students Over Altered Academic Results
The University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has withheld the graduation of some postgraduate students after investigations uncovered the alteration of more than 500 academic results involving 178 students.
The Vice-Chancellor of UPSA, Prof. John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, disclosed the development during the university’s 18th Congregation, describing the incident as a serious breach of the institution’s academic integrity.
According to Prof. Mawutor, investigations revealed that some students allegedly connived with individuals to gain access to the university’s information technology system and manipulate their academic results.
“Some unscrupulous students and some unscrupulous individuals breached our system by hijacking our system and changing results in our system,” he said.
He said the university’s ICT team worked extensively to trace the affected results and restore them, while commending the Director of ICT, James Amena, and his team for their efforts.
Prof. Mawutor disclosed that the investigation had led to the identification of persons involved in the incident, with some students admitting that they had paid money to have their results changed.
“I’ve been informed that over 500 results were changed by 178 students and after the investigations, a number of them have come to confess that indeed they paid money to unscrupulous people to change their results,” he said.
He added that some of the students denied involvement, while others allegedly admitted receiving money from their colleagues to facilitate the alteration of results.
“Others also denied, whilst others also confessed that they collected money from their colleagues,” Prof. Mawutor added.
The Vice-Chancellor stressed that the university considers the conduct unacceptable and said management would not compromise the integrity of its academic processes.
“This is highly unacceptable, especially at UPSA,” he stressed.
Prof. Mawutor further revealed that some of the students implicated in the case were scheduled to graduate during the 18th Congregation but had their graduation withheld following the investigations.
“Some of these culprits were supposed to graduate today, but through the hard work of our ISTD team and the investigative committee, we have withheld their graduation until further notice,” he said.
He also praised the ICT team for working under intense pressure for several weeks to address the breach, trace the altered results and restore the integrity of the university’s academic records.
According to him, the team sometimes worked late into the night in their efforts to secure the system.
“There were moments for one whole week we had to be speaking around midnight and had to keep them awake to get the system back from those unscrupulous young ones of college,” he said.
Prof. Mawutor assured the university community that management would continue to strengthen measures to protect UPSA’s information technology systems and safeguard the credibility of its academic records.
He said the university remained committed to maintaining high academic standards and ensuring that its academic processes were protected from manipulation and other forms of misconduct.
