PROFILE OF UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Established in May 1992 by PNDC Law 279: It began academic work in September 1993 with the admission of thirty-nine (39) students into the Faculty of Agriculture, (FOA), Nyankpala.

The Faculty of Integrated Development Studies, (FIDS), Faculty of Planning and Land Management (FPLM) and Faculty of Education, Law and Business Studies (FELBS), Wa, School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), Tamale, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources (FRNR), Nyankpala, Faculty of Applied Sciences (FAS), Faculty of Computational and Developmental Mathematics (FCDM), Navrongo and the Graduate School now in Tamale were phased in from 1994 to date.

The mission of the University is to run programmes that will effectively and efficiently combine academic work with community-participation and extension.

The University’s principal objective is to address and find solutions to the environmental problems and socio-economic deprivations that have characterized northern Ghana in particular and are also found in some rural areas throughout the rest of the country.

Accordingly, UDS consciously and systematically run programmes that are targeted to prepare the individuals to establish their own careers in specialized areas. Further it equips these practitioners with requisite knowledge to enable them to live and function in any deprived community in the country.

The university presently runs six faculties, one school and two centres of excellence. Further there are Masters Programmes in the social sciences, and sciences leading to the award of doctorate degrees.

TTFPP

The UDS also runs a community-technical interface programme. This is a combination of the academic and community-based field practical work known as the Third Trimester Field Practical Programme (TTFPP). It covers a trimester in each academic year and cuts across all faculties in its integrated approach, and ensures that students live and work closely in communities to formulate specific interventions to address specific challenges

Centre for Continuing Education and Inter-disciplinary Research (CCEIR) at Navrongo Campus ensures coordination of all research activities of the University. The Gender Programmes Unit also leads in the process of gender mainstreaming in the policies and programmes.

Also sited at the Navrongo Campus is the French Language Centre of the University.

Linkages and Association

The University has established academic and research linkages with a number of Universities and Research Institutions both locally and internationally. It is also a member of the Association Commonwealth Universities (ACU), and the Association of African Universities (AAU), among others.

UDS will always remain grateful to the Government of Ghana and all other stakeholders for their tremendous support and goodwill.