The University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has uncovered a major academic results manipulation involving 178 students.
The university found that more than 500 academic results had been changed in its system.
The Vice Chancellor of UPSA, Prof Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, disclosed this during the university’s 18th Congregation, describing the incident as serious and unfortunate.
According to him, some students and other individuals gained access to the university’s system and changed students’ academic results.
“Some unscrupulous students and some unscrupulous individuals breached our system by hijacking our system and changing results in our system,” Prof Mawutor said.
He said investigations had identified those involved and found that “over 500 results were changed by 178 students”.
Prof Mawutor said some of the students later admitted that they had paid people to change their results, while others confessed to collecting money from their colleagues to help manipulate their academic records.
“After the investigations, a number of them came to confess that indeed, they paid money to some unscrupulous people to change their results. Others also denied, while others confessed that they collected monies from their colleagues,” he said.
He described the practice as unacceptable, especially at a university such as UPSA.
“This is highly unacceptable, especially at UPSA,” Prof Mawutor stressed.
The Vice Chancellor also revealed that some of the students involved were expected to graduate at the university’s 18th Congregation.
However, their graduation has been put on hold indefinitely as investigations and disciplinary proceedings continue.
“Some of these culprits were supposed to graduate, but due to the hard work of our ISTD team and the investigative committee, we have withheld their graduation until further notice,” he said.
Prof Mawutor said the university had experienced similar incidents in the past, but the scale of the latest case was much bigger.
“This is a very, very unfortunate incident, which to me is not the first time, but this time, the magnitude is very, very significant,” he said.
He praised the university’s Information Systems and Technology Directorate (ISTD) team and the investigative committee for uncovering the manipulation and helping to identify those involved.
