The University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has celebrated 1,275 graduates from the School of Graduate Studies and the UPSA Law School at the first session of its 18th Congregation. Held on Friday, 25 September 2026, at the Kofi Ohene-Konadu Auditorium, the ceremony brought together University authorities, faculty, families and friends to recognise the graduating class’s academic achievements.
Presenting the graduation statistics, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, announced that the cohort comprised 1,086 postgraduate graduates and 189 Bachelor of Laws (LLB) graduates.
The postgraduate cohort included 554 Master of Business Administration (MBA), 222 Master of Science (MSc), 196 Master of Arts (MA), 73 Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and 41 Master of Laws (LLM) graduates. Their programmes spanned business, finance, accounting, management, communication, information systems, leadership, procurement, insurance, marketing and law.
Professor Mawutor also announced that four master’s graduates had achieved a perfect final cumulative grade point average of 4.0 out of 4.0, describing the achievement as a first in the University’s history.
The ceremony marked the graduation of the inaugural cohorts of five postgraduate programmes: MPhil in Information Systems, MPhil in Management, and the LLM programmes in Competition and Consumer Protection Law, International Business and Commercial Law, and Natural Resources and Climate Change Law.
Addressing the graduating class, Professor Mawutor urged graduates to use their education to solve problems, strengthen institutions and serve their communities. He acknowledged the discipline and determination of those who had combined postgraduate study with careers and family responsibilities.
“What difference can I make because of what I have learnt?” he challenged them to ask themselves.
He encouraged graduates to continue learning and adapting as technology and artificial intelligence reshape professional practice. For law graduates, he stressed that professional competence must be accompanied by an understanding of the people whose lives the law affects.
“Know the law, but understand the people it affects. Pursue excellence, but never at the expense of integrity. Let your ambition be guided by principle,” he said.
The Vice-Chancellor also highlighted the University’s efforts to connect research and teaching with industry and societal needs. These included its maiden Innovation Week, which brought together student innovators to develop responses to practical challenges, and the establishment of the J.K. Horgle Transport and Logistics Centre of Excellence.
The Congregation Speaker, Dr Philip Oti-Mensah, Chief Executive Officer of Universal Merchant Bank (UMB), encouraged graduates to approach their professional lives with a commitment to value creation, problem-solving and responsible leadership.
“The world outside will not ask you what you studied. It will ask: What can you do? What problem can you solve? What value can you bring? And what kind of leader will you become?” he said.
Dr Oti-Mensah urged graduates to distinguish themselves through preparation, discipline, reliability and consistency, emphasising the importance of sustaining high standards in employment, business and public service.
The ceremony was the first of five congregation sessions planned for the 2025/2026 academic year. Congratulating the graduating class, Professor Mawutor encouraged them to uphold the University’s values and judge their success by the quality of their work and their contribution to others.
“Success is measured not only by income or position, but by the quality of your work, the people you influence, and the difference you make,” he said.
