Higher Educating A Nation: Why?

An unlikely comparison but two nations Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the US face the need to increase numbers of their citizens’ completing higher education. As reported in the 13 October edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education, President Obama wants to higher education completion rates of US citizens to hoist the US to the top of countries world wide by 2020 of nations whose citizens complete higher education. At the minimum he would like every American to finish a year or more of higher education.

The PNG national government is also promoting higher education as the key enabler for the achievement of the nation’s recently launched 2050 vision. Higher education providers are thus entreated to response to the national demand to graduate increasing numbers of well qualified graduates for effective economic and social participation to drive PNG towards the 2050 vision of a Middle Income Economy. But here the comparison ends.

President Obama is putting money where his mouth is by channelling huge sums of dollars to schools and colleges so numbers of US citizens completing higher education are increased. Again as reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education, at issue for US are the low retention rates of college enrolments. By stemming the outflow of students from schools and colleges before completing their programs of study, the US hopes to be able to increase its higher educated manpower levels. President Obama is further matching his demands on college education with more promises of money to states conditional on set of 4 accountability and quality assurances.

 In contrast, PNG’s workforce capacity demand can not be met without institutional capacity expansion.  But, I would argue that there seems little prospect of that happening in any meaningful way without the government increasing its current levels of funding to Higher Education Institutions (HEI). The best advice going to the HEIs is to adopt managerial strategies and knowhow to generate funding to supplement the shortfalls and perhaps maintain current provision and have extra for expansion initiatives.  A number of institutions such as the University of Papua New Guinea and Divine Word University are innovating and supplementing funding levels through entrepreneurial initiatives. But the mantra to be innovative and entrepreneurial is not enough to meet the human resource capacity needs of PNG. Without serious money going to HEIs to expand and increase access, vision 2050 would be just a dream.

The Question of University Legitimacy in Papua New Guinea

Two seemingly unrelated events took place in early October 2010 in the higher education sector in Papua New Guinea, of which one was reported in the daily newspapers, and one did not. The event reported was that the leader of the opposition in government, Sir Mekere Morauta, had visited Jubilee University (JU) during which he had presided over the commissioning of the institution’s new security fence.  The event that went unreported, though not by design, was that a team from Divine Word University (DWU), of which I was a member, conducted an audit of the  neighbouring nursing school, the Lutheran School of Nursing (LSON), which was seeking to renew its affiliation with DWU for a third term.

Had both been reported in the news, to the casual observer it would not have been obvious that the unrelated events were connected to the current larger subsurface narrative at play in the sphere of PNG higher education. The narrative is on the question of university or higher education institution legitimacy. Just when and how does an organization aspiring to become an institution of higher learning in PNG become validated as one and what are the tangible indicators of its legitimacy? And who are the key payers that bestow legitimacy?

During the audit of LSON, both staff including the head of the school expressed satisfaction at the benefits that flowed from affiliation in terms of the school’s increased collaboration with key partners in both the health and higher educations sectors which had increased the school’s public visibility and translated into improved standards of their academic awards. Predictably, they wished to see the relationship with DWU continue.

The terms of reference of the LSON audit were developed from process and protocol set by the national higher education regulatory bodies of the Commission for Higher Education (CHE), its service arm the Office of Higher Education (OHE) and DWU whose programs are accredited by CHE and thus it could act as an accrediting agency.

The fact that JU had invited the leader of the opposition in government and he had accepted the invitation could be interpreted as a show of endorsement of the institution at this level of government. Given the authority vested in the leader of the opposition, would the visit have translated into greater acceptance and visibility of JU amongst the public and the key constituency of HEIs?

Well, not quite, in my view. A public notice placed in the newspapers earlier this year outlined the required process and protocol to be adhered to by institutions seeking accreditation and subsequently acceptance as HEIs. JU had apparently not complied with these requirements and its claim to university status was and remains contested. Also in February of this year, it was reported in the National newspaper that Dr Tagis, the Director General of the OHE, had written to the National Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church, the sponsor of Jubilee College (the specific use of term ‘college’), that the institution had not satisfied the requirements to be conducting itself as an HEI and it was misleading for it to be publicly calling itself a university.

And so the message in this is that even if there is support from the highest levels of politics, until such time as JU or any other aspiring organizations comply with the stipulated requirements, they will remain ostracized from the community of accredited institutions as illegitimate. The acceptance by this community will greatly increase JU's profile as an institution of higher learning. LSON demonstrates on the other hand that an institution will continue to reap the rewards that flow from being accepted as a higher learning institution as long as it is prepared to periodically subject itself to an audit process.

Pictures from the Missioning Ceremony

Dignitaries, Students and Benefactors mingle post missioning

The missioning ceremony at DWU

In 2009,  Divine Word University ( DWU) began a ritual, a rite of passage for students who had sucessfully completed their studies. The ritual is referred to as the 'missioning'.   It will not doubt become part of the DWU tradition in years to come. Students each recieve a small cross. It symbolizes the type of education they have received which is encapsulated in DWU's philosophy of education. The wearing of the cross is a reminder of the obligation they have to utilize their education for disguished service to the society of PNG. 

This ceremony is unique to DWU.  It is gaining in popularity as parents, guardians and other benefactors are attending in larger numbers. Tomorrow, Friday 8 October, 2010, is the second ceremony. The campus is now abuzz with visitors.  I hope to post some pictures following the ceremony.