The authorities of the University for Development Studies (UDS) will not accept any change of name in the university by students who wish to do so.
Professor Haruna Yakubu, Vice Chancellor of the university, said this in a speech read on his behalf on Saturday at the 20th Matriculation of the School Medicine and Health Sciences in Tamale.
He said the directive was to ensure that students who gained admissions with fraudulent results are detected and withdrawn.
He, however, said exceptions would be given to female students who got married during the period of their studies and would be given an individual merit to such students.
Prof. Yakubu said over the years some students apply to the university for change of name soon after matriculation and others do so soon after completion of their studies.
He said the situation aroused suspicion about the authenticity of their results slips and certificates saying, "There are causes to believe that they are cases of impersonation"
He warned the students that their results slips and other certificates that gained them admission would be scrutinized and that those that would be found to be fraudulent will face the appropriate sanctions including possible prosecution.
He announced that the university received a total of 12,056 applications for the 2012/2013 academic year to do undergraduate programmes out of which it admitted 6,209 but that 3,690 accepted the admissions.
Prof. Yakubu said UDS had introduced eight new academic programmes so as to continue to mount very relevant and demand-driven academic programmes in line with its strong commitment to rural and community development and national progress.
The eight new academic programmes, which had been introduced across all four campuses are; Bachelor of Commerce, BSc. Accounting, BSc. Accounting and Finance, BSc. Development Management and BSc. Land Management, all at the Wa Campus.
The rest are; BSc. Information Technology at the Navrongo campus; and BSc. Nurse Anaethesia and BSc. Biomedical Science at the Tamale Campus and expressed the hope that the university would contribute its quota to rural and national development.
On discipline, Prof. Yakubu advised students to conduct their lives well enough to avoid punitive measures, which may include expelling from the university depending on the severity of the offense.
He said the university would not relent in its efforts to provide quality training to deserving students and that its products would continue to excel in their various fields and advised the fresh students to carry aloft the success stories of the UDS.