Comments

Thank you Albert Schram for your insightful comments concerning this blog. Firstly, the main objective of all higher learning institutions is obviously to produce quality and competent graduates based on international standards so that they could meet the demands of the workforce thus it wouldn’t be a challenge in PNG if the university council and its management step up in their performance to address the challenge seriously. Secondly, speaking of quality through meritocratic measures, you mentioned Unitech having its internal vetting system when it comes to selection through independent ACER aptitude test which is a great idea and should be perhaps adopted by other universities because universities can’t just rely on selection recommendations made by the DHERST. The same concept should also be applied to those students who are eligible for loans but have left their studies for few or some years due to lack of funds. It’s not good enough to provide the loans to students who are eligible to obtain the loan without testing whether they are eligible to continue their studies or not. But as you said, TESAS and HELP are applicable in developed countries and PNG as a developing country should prioritize full scholarship instead. Finally, I think to ensure quality in teaching and learning and to improve internal structure of the universities in terms of having the proper facilities and to establish partnership to receive foreign aid lies entirely with the respective university council and its administration. The prosperity of a university is as effective and good as its administration and the council members. Once again, thank you for your comments.

Thank you Michael for your thoughtful comments. 1. The issue of whether to consider high GPA for HELP is still questionable between DHERST and the government. As you said, DHERST wants to consider GPA and I mean high GPA as one of the requirements for HELP but on the other hand as per DHERST’s second media release, GPA is NOT a prerequisite for HELP which was a direct statement from the government. The issue is still debatable between government and DHERST based on the fact that the government is trying to address the issue of quantity while DHERST is trying to address the issue of quality especially in terms of the outcome of the HELP scheme. 2. ‘Guarantee’ was one of the terms of the TESAS loan program back in 2000 to 2007 but it did not work out the way it was intended. ‘Wantok’ as you said could mean loan recipient’s parents, a guardian or any groups that the loan recipient is affiliated with and for them to willingly accept the terms to repay the loan in the event that the recipient did not find a job two years after graduation is something that needs to be considered between the loan recipient and the wantok. Back in 2007, those wantoks when approached by OHE refused to repay the loans as reported in one of the sources that I provided in the blog. Therefore you are right, requiring a wantok for loan repayment is illogical and totally impractical even for a graduate who is earning below certain threshold of K600 per fortnight. 3. Your third point is quite interesting though because PM Marape was the only one being active on media trying to clarify the confusion among students and parents between TESAS and HELP in terms of whether HELP would replace TESAS. The first media statement released by DHERST was very clear that TESAS would ‘cease for good’ in the second semester and HELP would continue from there, which was a direct instruction from the PM and DHERST minister which came out on both online and offline medias, but the second press release was that both would coexist and HELP will start in first semester instead. Apparently, to date we don’t even know whether TESAS would cease for good this year but as you said, let’s see if the goalpost is going to change in the coming weeks and months as the HELP is rolled out. Thanks again for your comments.

Thank you Dr Watson for your comment. For this scheme to succeed or not is entirely dependant on how it would be implemented starting this year either in the first or second semester. What’s really important though, as you pointed out, is to have very good university graduates (which Albert Schram mentioned in the first line of his comment) who are trained at international standards. But the loan scheme, if you read the second media statement released by DHERST, is purposely to address the issue of quantity and not quality. GPA is not even a requirement for HELP and to invest K200m in such a non-compulsory loan scheme with an expectation of producing quality to meet demanding workforce is not a good idea of investing in human capital, especially in a developing country. So probably the government needs to reconsider the terms before rolling out the HELP scheme. Thank you.

Hi Satish, thanks for your comment. As I stated in the blog, this is the second time the government of PNG has introduced a tertiary loan program and the implementing government agencies are working so hard to ensure that the repayment process is set right. In doing so, individuals who are interested to obtain funds through HELP are being asked to register for NID (National Identification Card) because as soon as they are being given NID, they would also get what is called a Tax Identification Number (TIN) to ensure future repayment of the loan as soon as they are being employed after graduation. At this point, we just have to see how this is going to work but I do really appreciate your points in terms of PNG learning from her neighboring countries like Australia, NZ and Fiji on how they’ve been implementing their higher education loan schemes before implementing the HELP scheme.

Thanks Moses for this excellent overview and analysis. As Dr. Watson points out the real challenge for universities is to produce graduates with competences commensurate with international standards (the only standards), and can find fitting employment. How to transform PNG universities? The first step is to assure student selection is meritocratic and not driven by political patronage or bribing. At UNITECH we therefore made independent ACER aptitude test compulsory, review the selection process and strictly adhered to it. In this contect, the recent message from Minister Kuman DHERST "Don't turn students away" is ominous. Translated it means: don't turn students away who were recommended by me or my friends in government. Secondly, assuring access for the talented. The current system needs a reboot, because the governors chipping in with the best intentions, however, create a lot of inequity and chaos. In my view, in a developing country full scholarships should be given. The state's investment is earned back many times over by a graduate paying income taxes. A non-graduate in PNG is highly likely to end up in the informal sector and never pay income tax. TESAS and HELP are schemes for industrialized countries, with no justification or useful application in the PNG context. Finally, universities must demonstrably work on the broader academic quality agenda - which is official government policy - and assure teaching is effective. Otherwise even the best selection and access policies are fruitless. At UNITECH, we revised the criteria for academic appointments and promotions, which have to be meritocratic. We engaged in a professional accreditation process and created a certificate program on student-centered teaching. We also engaged with industry to assure some equipment in teaching laboratories was actually working. We received no Australian aid at all for these efforts, with all support going to UPNG who, to say the least, had not been trail blazing in terms of the quality agenda or university reform. In 2012 with new LNG revenue to be invested in health and education, and new leadership at UNITECH after the Sevua Inquiry, there was one chance to achieve this transformation. Today, UNITECH management, however, is undoing most of this. We are back at non-functional teaching laboratories, no internet, no reliable power supply, and teaching programming with programmable calculators from the 1970s. The current UNITECH Council and management just found it too hard to stay the course and do the right thing. Universities reform postponed for another decade at least, until the current crop of university administrators and board members has withered away in total ineffectiveness and futility.

Good blog Moses. Few points related to the blog: 1. Several times the government & DHREST said that to qualify for HELP, students need high GPA. High GPA is also required for TESAS. Because both schemes require high GPA, both HELP & TESAS benefits students with high GPA, not necessarily poor students. It’s a “he who has more, more will be given, and he who has less, even what he has will be take away from him” scheme. The requirements for high GPA, especially for HELP, is so that students can easily get employed and repay their loans. That’s according to secretary for DHREST. 2. The government said if students fail to repay their loans two years after graduation, their guarantees will repay. So the students willing to access loans first need to find a ‘wantok’ willing to repay the loan on their behalf if the student fails to find a job two years after graduation. How many wantoks would be willing to do that? Graduates who earn below a certain threshold (e.g. K600 per fortnight) will be exempted from repaying their loans until they exceed the threshold. Will the their wantoks pay for the loans whilst awaiting the graduate to exceed the threshold? The idea of guarantees is interesting. The reason why students are going for HELP in the first place is because their wantoks cannot help them now. Requiring the same wantoks to repay if the graduates fail to repay is a silly logic. 3. Marape is developing a habit of changing the goalposts. First he declared scrapping away free education from prep to secondary school level. Outcry, especially on social media led to a change in position. Now it’s subsidized education. Second, he announced that TESAS would be eliminated and replaced with HELP. Again, public outcry led to maintaining TESAS. We might see more changing of goalposts. I wrote a piece on HELP titled “Student loans, Chained Careers: The other perspective” for a blog. It was republished by the National Newspaper last Friday: https://academicnomad.home.blog/2020/01/10/student-loans-chained-careers-the-other-perspective/

Here it’s only the rumors that the aid budget is low. I think Helen Hughes has a different view on increasing the budget of aid in the Pacific islands. She had a bad impact on the Pacific. The Australian government is giving no sign on the labor. I have much more to say but will conclude my comment they are improving the quality submission to aid.

Great article and good on you Sonya for having the determination and you will be an inspiration to other young people. 😊

I am sorry to learn that the new scheme seems unlikely to succeed. This is unfortunate because PNG really does need to have very good university graduates. The country would benefit from providing higher education to talented individuals who are from remote areas and families with an inability to pay fees.

Thanks for this blog Moses. PNG may learn much from the Fijian experience. A Tertiary Education Loan Scheme (TELS), in addition to a scholarship for high-achievers pursuing studies towards qualifications in demand, has been in place in Fiji since 1977. Repayments are made through the tax system, and loan-recovery has been good. A lesson from the above is that graduates have to be employed to be in a position to repay their loans, and the tax system must deliver. Consequently, the onus is on the lender (i.e. the Government) to do the necessary homework before extending the loan (i.e. HELP).

Great article, Stephen. Round and round we go.

NID is a failed and wasteful project. It is just a simple task of reaching out, collection and registering all information in the database to produce those IDs and birth certificates, with favourable funding more than enough to complete the job. I personally think the Civil and Identity Registration office and all the officials are INCOMPETENT, that's why the are very corrupt, lazy and turn to nepotism. I believe the government should thoroughly investigate all the employees merits and records and instate all qualified, capable personnel who are flexible enough to identify and solve any problem and to accomplish any projects and programs. I'm sure there are a lot of quality and qualified Papua New Guineans and ethical persons who can do this work. On the other hand the complication of NID is real and I'm facing it right now. I did apply at Port Moresby and waited almost 11 months, but when I came to Goroka, there was nowhere I could follow up. All the contacts I got from Moresby are not working and even the NID office in Goroka is telling me to go back to the centre where I applied and this complicated everything because there is no other website or links where l could get information. NID project in Papua New Guinea is a failed and wasteful project.