UNIVERSITYWIDE OFFICE of the EDUCATION ABROAD PROGRAM (UOEAP)

University of Ghana Housing Information

Dorm options at the University of Ghana You are able to indicate a preference of your on-campus dorm accommodations at UG. All students are required to live on-campus. Review the dorm comparison from the Ghana study center. We recommend that you consult with returnees when determining your dorm preference. Indicate your housing preference using our online survey. The Ghana Study Center will do it’s best to place you in your preferred housing choice. Most students (male and female) live in the International Student’s Hostel. Due to construction, there are only 10 spots available at Volta Hall for females. There are plenty of spots at Legon Hall for the males.

Dormitory Comparison from University of Ghana Study Center

The University of Ghana, Legon consists of 8 student dormitories: Akuafo Hall, Mensah

Sarbah Hall, Legon Hall, Volta Hall, Commonwealth Hall, International Student Hostel (ISH),

Pentagon Hostel, and Jubilee Hall. Each hall consists of a series of buildings, also known as

annexes, which are grouped together forming a structure designed to meet the needs of the

students. Each annex is a few stories high accessible by stairways, with at least two main

entrances on the bottom floor. The following report compares and contrasts three specific halls:

Volta Hall, Legon Hall, and the International Students Hostel (ISH), which house UCEAP

students.

General Information

Volta Hall is an all women hall located at the upper west side of campus and is open to UC

female students. It’s rectangular structure and three residential buildings is composed of a porters

lodge, guest rooms, a small chapel, a dining hall, a library, a small laundry service, a hair salon, a

small convenient store. The students who reside at Volta Hall are either first year students, fourth

year students, students participating on an on-campus athletic group, or international students.

Legon Hall, open for UC male students, is also located on the upper western side of

campus. It is composed of a main hall and three annexes. The main hall, designated for both men

and women, consists of a porters lodge, a professors’ lounge, two dining halls, a library, a study

room, two computer labs, a laundry service, a hair salon, and a convenient store. Behind the main

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hall are three annexes: Annex A, which houses men, Annex B which houses women, and Annex C

which houses graduate level students. Similar to Volta Hall, Legon Hall is designated for students

who are freshman, seniors, athletes, and international students.

International Student Hostel (ISH) is located on the south end of campus and is available

to all UC students regardless of gender. ISH is a co-ed hostel that is divided into two separate

buildings: ISH 1 and ISH 2. Together, the building consist of a porter’s lodge, an in-house laundry

service, a dining hall, an outdoor market, study rooms, on site tutors, and a computer lab with

wireless internet access.

Security

Volta Hall

Volta Hall has a total of three entrances that access the entire structure. Two of these

entries are located on the sides of the Dining Hall and are left unlocked and unprotected

throughout the day. In the evening, usually after 7pm, these entry ways are locked by Volta Hall

personnel. The main entry, which is located at the front of the hall, is accessed by most individuals

entering and exiting the hall. No record is kept of students or other persons entering and exiting

the building. No identification is required to receive room keys from the porters. Students have

been known to even receive more than one room key from the porters and even freely grab keys

from behind the desk without notice or care.

The main entry way is usually guarded by two porters 24 hours out of each day. The

porters are most alert during the morning and early afternoon. During the evening hours and early

morning, the porters may be found sleeping and unaware of individuals entering and exiting the

building. The main entry is usually closed during the late evening and reopened in the morning.

Though these doors are closed in the main building, individuals have been known to open the

latches from the outside, without force, to enter the hall without notice.

There are rotating security guards that usually set up post on the second level (N Block) of

the rear annex. Normally during the day, two security guards are on watch. These guards have

been known to respond to incidents very slowly and are unarmed. The guards may be found sleep

at their post. Only one guard is on duty during the evening hours. These men can be found

periodically walking around the perimeter of the building checking on students. These tactics have

been proven to be ineffective toward criminal incidents occurring within the hall.

Legon Hall

Legon’s main hall has three main entry ways during the day. Two of these entrances are

monitored by rotating porters. During the evening hours, only one entry is left open for both entry

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and exiting the hall. Like most halls, porters and security personnel are expected to constantly

monitor the hall for activity and keep a log of individuals entering and exiting the premises. In

Legon Hall, however, whose porters and security guards are known to doze off during their shifts

and allow individuals to enter and exit without question. The response time of both the porters and

security guards to incidents are proven to be inefficient by university standards. Legon Hall’s

Annexes A through C are also poorly guarded and criminal activity (i.e. theft) is not uncommon.

International Students Hostel (ISH)

In each of the International Students Hostels, there is only one main entry way. Each

entrance is tended by at least two security guards 24 hours a day. Students have declared that they

rarely see a guard inattentive or dozing off while on duty. They remain alert at all hours and make

sure to keep a revolving shift. Each entrance is also headed by at least two porters. These porters

require all non-residential persons to log their name, their host name to which they are visiting,

their name, time in, time out, and a signature. Porters have also been known to ask for

identification before approving entry into the hall. This is in effect at all hours of the day.

Water and Power

Volta Hall

Ghana’s water level is raised during the raining season and lowered significantly during the

dry season. During the dry season, water outages appear more frequently in Volta Hall. In the

past, water outages occurred three to four days out of the week for periods longer than 12 hours.

Volta Hall has three water reservoir tanks that are accessible to students during water shortages.

Tanks are located on the ground level as well as on the subsequent floors providing for easy access

for students who live on the upper floors.

Power outages occur more frequently as well during the dry season. Power is usually

expected to be out at least once every two weeks. During this time, no backup generators are

supplied to the student halls. Students are expected to supply their own candles and flashlights

when blackouts occur. This presents a danger to students who walk during the evening hours

through poorly guarded halls.

Legon Hall

Though Volta and Legon reside on the same side of campus, Legon has more frequent

water outages. The rainy season supplies almost continuous flow of water throughout the campus.

Therefore, it is mainly during the dry season that Legon has massive water outages. These outages

typically last at least 12 hours out of each day of the week. On the premises of the main hall exists

14 water reservoir tanks easily accessible to students on the ground. In addition to the tanks in the

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main hall, each annex also supplies the students with at least two additional tanks. When water

stops running, students fetch water from the ground floor and carry it up to their rooms up the

flights of stairs.

Despite the frequent water outages, Legon’s power remains constant during both the rainy

and dry season. Students still equip their room with flashlights and candles in the event that there

is a mass power outage on campus. During this time, the main hall’s restaurant, Time Out,

supplies a power generator to dining students. Porters are also expected to have a backup light in

the porters lodge to inspect students entering and exiting the premises.

International Student Hostel (ISH)

Whether it is the rainy or dry season, students in ISH have fewer water outages in either

hall than either Legon Hall or Volta Hall. In the event that there is a water outage there are least 8

water reservoir tanks on the roofs of both ISH 1 and ISH 2. Each tank has a pipeline that is easily

accessible to students on every level in the hall. Power shortages are almost nonexistent, but in

any event students equip their room with supplies and backup generators are also available.

Dining Options

Volta Hall

Although the service in Volta Dining Hall is better than most others on campus, food

options are limited to local dishes, and the prices are more expensive than you can find elsewhere

on campus. These dishes, usually consisting of rice and fried vegetables, are served from 11 a.m.

to 4 p.m Monday through Friday.

Legon Hall

There are two dining areas in Legon that serve dishes from 9 a.m. to the late evening. The

main dining hall serves local dishes, while the hall’s restaurant Time Out serves mostly Chinese

food. Much like the main dining hall food, most of their dishes are saturated in oil.

International Student Housing (ISH)

ISH supplies students with a main dining hall that serves a variety of foods appropriate for

breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In addition to their main dining hall, students can choose from a

range of fruits, vegetables, local dishes, and vegetarian dishes at what is called the ‘Night Market’.

This market is set up outside of ISH 2 and is remains open throughout the day and evening. This

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market not only serves food items, but also has vendors who sell clothing, jewelry, movies, music,

and stationary supplies.

Cultural Advantages and Disadvantages

Volta Hall/Legon Hall

Students residing in Volta have expressed gratitude for being able to interact and live with

Ghanaian students. Exchange of cultural values has allowed students to adapt to the society with

confidence and reassurance. Such interactions include expose to new ideologies, beliefs,

traditions, and ethical considerations.

Though there is much to gain from the blend of cultures, students living in either Volta and

Legon are not surrounded by other international students and may at times appreciate visiting ISH

1 or 2 to feel a bit at home amongst more foreign students. However, living in either Legon Hall or

Volta Hall is a wonderful opportunity to make more Ghanaian friends and have late night

conversations and bond over fetching water or doing laundry.

International Student Hostel (ISH)

Despite of the title, ISH is composed of international students from neighboring countries,

countries in the diaspora, as well as Ghanaian students. These students also exchange cultural

values amongst each other and live in harmony. Though ISH does not have Ghanaian students in

great number as other halls do, a blending of culture still occurs amongst the students and all are

able to genuinely gain some type of cultural experience.

Students have noted that the Ghanaian and other foreign students who live at ISH are

wealthier than the ones who live in a room with five or more students in the other hostels on

campus. This is just an observation about the foreign student and Ghanaian interaction at ISH.

Accommodation for International Students

Provision of housing on Campus for our international guests is key in the University's bid to

enhance the Ghanaian experience for our international students while exposing the Ghanaians

(students and staff) to international cultures.

International Students’ Hostels I & II

The International Students' Hostels (ISH I and ISH II) have been purposely built to cater to the

increasing numbers of international students at the University of Ghana. They are located on the

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southern part of the campus, off the road leading to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical

Research. ISH I(commissioned June 18th, 1999) opened for the 2000/2001 academic year while

ISH II was only recently (January 2006) opened.

International Students' Hostel (ISH) I

• Each Hostel is made up of 4 floors with rooms of single and double occupancy. Each floor

has a laundry room, 2 kitchenettes and a T.V. lounge. In addition, the ground floor has two

Reading Rooms.

• To ensure that our international students have as much contact with their Ghanaian peers as

possible and to foster close socio-cultural interaction with our international students, a

number of Ghanaian students are resident in the hostel.

• In residence at each Hostel are two resident assistants who serve as the first point of call, to

ensure that foreign students have a fulfilling stay in Ghana. These four resident assistants

work directly with the Office of the Dean, International Programmes and are on call 24/7.

• At each entrance, a Porters' Lodge can be found with a shift of Porters on duty 24 hours

each day ensuring that all needs of residents are met while monitoring for security and

safety.

• The Hostel maintains a "Travel Log Book" for students to register their travel plans (dates

of travel, destination) so that the Office may be notified and take appropriate action should

a student not return on the specified date

• Hostel Visitors: no visitors are permitted after midnight. All visitors must sign in the

Visitor Book (name and address of visitor, name and room number of student being visited)

and sign out when they leave. Visitors who have not signed out are tracked down by the

Porters and escorted out of the Hostel.

• To further enhance the safety of our students, every evening from 7:00 – 11:00 p.m., a free

Shuttle Service is run to and from the hostel connecting to other points on the campus,

including the Balme Library, the Central Cafeteria and the main University Gate.

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• Students are advised to bring along, or acquire on arrival, basic toiletries and other basic

essentials to outfit their rooms (including a pillow).

• Laundry services are available on the ground floor for a fee.

• A small eatery is located on the ground floor.

• A small shop is located on the ground floor.

• An internet café is available on the next level (first floor) of the hostel.

o One hour of internet time is roughly 5,000 cedi or .50 cents USD

o Telephone facilities are also available here (including international call access).

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