International Higher Education, Summer 2004

Higher Education in Papua New Guinea: Striving for Quality

Dick Rooney
Dick Rooney was the chief writer of the Papua New Guinea Commission for Higher Education Institutional Accreditation document. He was also director for academic quality assurance at Divine Word University, Madang, from October 2001 until November 2003. Address: VSO, PO Box 1061, Madang, Papua New Guinea. E-mail: Dick.Rooney@hotmail.com.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) one of the world’s least-developed countries, has set in motion a plan to try to improve the quality of its universities, but it will have to struggle against poverty and low capacity to achieve the necessary changes.

The higher education sector in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is mixed and disorganized in structure. Each of the six universities (four public, two private) was based on separate enabling legislation, with enrollments ranging from 400 to 3,000 full-time students. Most of the 26 institutions of higher education are single-discipline institutions (8 are teacher education institutions and 8 health education institutions). Higher education enrollments are estimated to number 6,345, representing about one percent of the 19-to-24-year age cohort. The numbers enrolled at the universities have increased by 22 percent since 1997.

Key Challenges
The lack of clear accreditation procedures means that most of these institutions, with only a few notable exceptions, are offering a narrow range of similar courses with quality that goes unchecked and probably varies from good to very poor. PNG’s Commission for Higher Education has adopted a new framework for accreditation of higher education institutions. The commission is intended to give universities the leading role in determining how the sector will develop in the future. A certain amount of rationalization in higher education is being achieved through the amalgamation and affiliation of smaller colleges with larger institutions and by closures. The Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, which overviews the sector and works with the Commission for Higher Education and the Office of Higher Education, provides policy advice, coordination, planning, and other services. Although the commission has taken the lead role in formulating policy concerning academic quality assurance and institutional accreditation, progress has been slow, hampered by lack of finances and also lack of commitment from some of the institutions themselves. Some international providers have entered the higher education market to fill existing gaps, but most offer small business-related and distance-education courses. The main overseas involvement comes through the two church-based private universities that rely heavily on the expertise of expatriate staff.

Although rationalization is taking place, it is difficult to organize anything on a national scale in PNG. The country is extremely fragmented with more than 800 distinct cultural groups, each with its own language. About 85 percent of PNG’s population, estimated at 5.3 million, live in isolated scattered rural settlements. Literacy rates are low, at about 45 percent and even lower for English literacy (the language of instruction in PNG), at about 29 percent. It can be difficult to get reliable statistics about the country but the United Nations estimates that only 23 percent of PNG 15-to-19-year-olds are enrolled at secondary school and 31 percent of 5-to-14-year-olds, at primary school.

There are doubts among key players, such as the Commission for Higher Education and the Office of Higher Education, that universities have the capacity to undertake the necessary work to improve quality. Public institutions are handicapped by low salaries and demoralized staff. PNG’s own brand of nepotism, known as wantokism, undermines the higher education sector as it does public life generally. Although there has recently been much public condemnation of corruption, people are still appointed to jobs on the basis of their family and clan connections rather than their ability to perform. At the same time many students are awarded places in academic programs on the basis of whom they know and not what they know.

Universities struggle to produce coherent and transparent strategies in curriculum content and design, teaching and learning and assessment. Some universities and the CHE have been working closely with overseas’ universities, especially those with church affiliations in neighboring Australia and nearby Philippines. The two private universities of PNG’s six universities have strong links with Catholic and Adventist international communities.

Accreditation Policy
A National Higher Education Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee set up by the Commission for Higher Education and with representatives from all PNG’s universities took nearly three years to finalize the new accreditation policy. A variety of stakeholders were involved in the process, but the main thrust came from within the universities themselves. Their final recommendations were adopted by the commission and publicly launched by the prime minister in November 2003.

The new accreditation methodology is in line with international trends, with self-evaluation and peer review central to the process. Universities will need to find suitably qualified people to make up a pool of experts from which a committee will be drawn up to visit an institution and ascertain its suitability for accreditation.

The six universities will be the first institutions to undergo accreditation. In the PNG system all higher education–level programs offered at institutions will need to be affiliated to one of the universities. The new process creates great challenges. The universities and higher education sector will have to struggle to create a timetable for implementation and find a budget to pay for it. PNG is currently undergoing one of its frequent periods of fiscal restraint. In 2003, universities did not get their full allocation of funding from the government to pay student tuition fees and living expenses. A repeat performance is expected this year.

Universities and Development
PNG universities have the potential to offer education, training and research programs that can support the country’s development. A labor force is being trained, especially for basic and secondary education and the country’s health needs, as well as future government, civil service, and business leaders. PNG universities also believe they should impart cultural values, attitudes, and ethics that can help to construct a healthy civil society and support good governance and a democratic political system. Another objective is to produce graduates who are keen and able to contribute to their immediate communities and the country.

However, there are many problems facing universities: overcrowding, limited or obsolete libraries, insufficient equipment, outdated curriculum, and underqualified teaching staff, to name just a few. Until quality is improved, graduating students every year from weak programs almost certainly means that, however committed or capable the students, they will be ill-equipped to satisfy the development needs of the country or to compete internationally.