Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Classes at The University of Ghana

The classes at the University of Ghana are based in lectures. Many of the classes are between 50-150 students. This makes things very interesting for learning since at Central Michigan University a large class is about 150 students; however, most are less than 40. There are three distinct things that are very necessary to know about when attending classes at the University of Ghana, these are: signing up for classes, differences that international students may find in their classes, and exams.

Prior to even going to class one must sign up for classes which requires you to follow the rules of groupings and levels. Students must only take one subject from a group but can take any number of different groups. Also, students must have all the same level classes, e.g. POLI 404, SOCI 420, ARCH 412. This is set up by the university to avoid conflicts in the end of the semester exam schedule. If this sounds confusing it is because it is somewhat confusing. Once a student signs up for classes online during orientation the student has to go to each department and sign a sheet that says which classes they are taking. This is a prolonged process because not all of the departments have what classes are offered and the timetables up until after the start of the semester. While some departments may not post the timetables on time almost all of the departments post the timetables without any issues.

Once you are signed up for classes it is now time to start going to them. This brings us to the first difference international students may find with their classes. The first difference is that many of the students and professors do not hold class on the first week. This is due to the fact that many students are still making their way to the school and professors have grown accustomed to this practice. While this may occur, newer professors have started to change this by holding class on the first week. Basically, you should show up to the spot where your class is going to occur but do not feel strange if it does not occur. This is simply part of the experience and is helpful in teaching you to “roll with the punches”.

Once you start to have lectures you will notice that the classes are very loud and not always on time. Professors may show up on time, or they may show up an hour late but it is best to stay until someone tells you the lecture is not going to happen. Students are expected to come to all lectures and the professor will know if you are not there so be sure to make it to every lecture you can. Also, the lectures are normally quite good. Though they are mostly dictation the information is beneficial when understanding Ghana in a more conceptual way. For example, my political science classes have given me many different ideas about the society within which I am currently living. While there are practical sessions these are not as necessary to attend because, if you understand the lecture the practical sessions will be redundant. Also, practical sessions do not go by a set timetable so you may have a class during the practical and therefore be unable to make it to the practical.

Exams are very important within any school but at the University of Ghana they are your grade in many cases. The exams are cumulative and should be taken seriously. If you want to prepare the best the Balme Library offers exams given in classes from prior years. You can look over these exams and find some correlative questions asked throughout the years. This is very beneficial because even good students may find it hard to stay calm about their entire grade being based off of one exam. The thought that should help to calm you is that the grading scale is not the same as it is at CMU; 70 percent to 100 percent are considered to be within the A range. The more intricate exam rules will be given at the orientation but overall if you are a good student at CMU then you should be a good student at the University of Ghana.

While classes may be very different than what you are used to they are one of the larger parts of the experience and should therefore be taken seriously. Some issues may come up but this has been the best time to simply allow the experience to happen and understand that “while the systems may not always work the people do”.