There is so much conversation on Facebook on the decision of Deputy Chief Justice Kandakasi to summon Governor Alan Bird to appear before the court and show reason why he should not be held accountable for contempt of court. The governor is said to have expressed dissatisfaction on certain matter/matters before the courts. Justice Kandakasi also told Kramer to confine his role as Minister of Police to Policy matters and not indulge in police operations. The former has generated much debate.
There are many opinions, including those who argue that Alan Bird is protected by parliamentary privileges to debate and question any matter in parliament. And there are those who say this privilege does not extend to matters currently before court, therefore amounting to a contempt of court.
PNG is a land of many political and legal blunders, and exciting precedents, but very few are as memorable as the first contempt case between a MP and the courts. Manus MP Nahau Rooney was jailed for contempt of court in 1979. In 1979, when she was the Minister for Justice, she wrote a letter to the Chief Justice, and later went on to NBC, to talk about Dr Predmas’ case. The NEC had terminated Dr Predmas, a lecturer at UPNG, and wanted to deport him, but he took an injunction against the NEC decision, which the courts granted. The NEC were frustrated against the court’s decision. The Public Prosecutor took Rooney’s case as a contempt of court and raised it with the courts. The judges ruled that it was a contempt of court and jailed Nahau Rooney. Michael Somare, then Prime Minister, used his executive decision to release her from prison. All foreign judges resigned in protest, and the first national Chief Justice was appointed – Sir Buri Kidu. It is something that shouldn’t be repeated.
You can read the court case on Paclii: Rooney (No 2), Public Prosecutor v [1979] PNGLR 448
The difference between Nahau & Bird is that, apart from the facts of the case, which are different, Alan Bird has the parliamentary privilege to argue. Is that sufficient? We’ll wait and see.
But as far as power of judges go, criticizing judges on Facebook is a very bad trend. PNG is in a privileged position whereby lack of strong political party systems prevents appointments of Supreme Court judges who are aligned to certain political parties. In the US, the President gets to appoint the Supreme Court judges. And without exception since the 1930s Richard Nixon’s case, the Presidents have been appointing Supreme Court judges who belong to their party. These judges are appointed for life, subject to good behaviors. A Democrat appointee will always make decisions in line with liberals’ values, whilst a Republican judge will rule in line with conservative values. In Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party dominated Japanese politics post-WW2 until very recently. Because the executive appoints the Supreme Court judges, since WW2, the judges were appointees of the LDP, and ruled along the values of LDP. In Malaysia, for the last 40 or so years, the judiciary and the executive were the same guys. Anwar Ibrim, Opposition MP was continuously jailed over 20 or so years as the judges, who conspired with the ruling party to keep Anwar out of politics for as long as they could. Worse still, there are countries right now where the judiciary is a mere extension of the executive arm.
PNG has, despite all the criticisms, an independent judiciary. Judiciary is the only arm of government among the three, that has some integrity left in this country. The executive in the past decade has dominated parliament, diminished legislature to a mere rubber stamp, stifled debates and bulldozed legislations. The only institution to stand up against these carnage was the judiciary. The courts ruled the Manus Detention illegal and unconstitutional. That couldn’t be done in parliament because the opposition didn’t have the numbers to stop the government. We as a nation had to rely on the Supreme Court to do that for us. When the government in 2016 adjourned the parliament to avoid a vote of no confidence (next parliament sitting was scheduled to fall well within the 12 months grace period before issue of writs for the 2017 election, thereby preventing any vote of no confidence), we had to rely on the Supreme Court to rule it unconstitutional. The opposition could not stop the government from adjourning because they did not have the numbers.
If we bring the judiciary down to the same level as the legislature and executive arms, we are finished. Let the judiciary be. Even if one judge is wrong, there are others who, upon appeal, can review the decision. It has a self-correcting mechanism.
I recommend members of this page to grab a book titled “Anwar Returns” to see a real case of judges compromising.
With the PNG Forestry Association saying PNG will loose K1 billion in revenues with increased taxes, I decided to re-read a report published by the Oakland Institute, a California-based policy think tank that conducted detailed report on PNG logging companies in 2016, and 2018. This two reports show that logging companies in PNG engage in illegal logging, tax evasion and financial misreporting, costing PNG millions of Kina in lost revenue of more than US$100 million (K4 million). This blog will focus on the Oakland Institute Report 2018 findings relating to the 16 subsidiaries of HR Company engaged in logging alone (16 brothers is a reference to the 16 subsidiaries, not necessarily 16 humans).
Summary is as follows
HR subsidiaries keep reporting losses every year, but keep increasing their exports every year
There is possibility that RH logging companies misreport their real financial loss to avoid paying taxes
PNG Forestry Association was so wrong in 2017, so you should therefore not believe them now when they say PNG will loose K1 billion
Financial Misreporting (intentionally?)
The Oakland Institute Report reveals a pattern of possible financial misreporting and tax evasion by logging companies – and its getting worse. The financial records of 16 subsidiaries of PNG’s largest log exporter, the Rimbunan Hijau (RH) Group, show that these companies declare little to no profit! Between 2000 and 2016, all together, the 16 companies have declared losses of K776 million (US$277 million) from their operations, compared to a profit of K53 million (US$18.5 million).These companies therefore declare losing 15 dollars for each dollar of profit they make.
Several subsidiaries have declared little or no profits for the entirety of their operations. RH subsidiary Niugini International Co. Ltd., for example, has declared zero profits and K126 million (US$44 million) in losses over the past 17 years, while more recently established operations such as Gilford Ltd, Sinar Tiasa, and Sinaran Papua have each declared more than K50 million (US$18 million) in losses.
The Oakland Report observes “…. It is hard to comprehend how these companies continue to operate despite such significant financial losses…. the more these companies harvest and export timber, the more money they lose…”
Even for non-accountants, you see the accounting blunder: If you make more loss after increasing exports, why increase exports every year? Shouldn’t it make sense to reduce exports instead? What is the incentive for increased logging and increased exports if you are making loss?
What is the motivation for declaring loss?
Its something called the Future Income Tax Benefit (FITB).“Under PNG tax law, when a company incurs a negative operating income, it does not have to pay the 30 percent income tax on its profits and is able to carry forward the loss for 20 years.The ability to carry a tax loss forward allows the company to accumulate tax credits from the government and apply these future income tax benefit (FITB) credits from prior years to reduce the amount of taxable income in following years.” The Oakland Institute Report (2018).
Because these companies have worked at an overwhelming loss over the past 17 years, most of them have never paid any income tax and instead, have accumulated a vast pool of “Future Income Tax Benefit” (FITB), which can be used to pay income taxes in future profitable years. The total FITB incurred by RH subsidiaries totaled US$32.6 million in 2011, and nearly doubled to US$58.8 million in 2016, five years of record losses. Because the FITB can be rolled forward and used to offset income taxes in profitable years, it is likely that these companies will never pay any income tax.
How can you misreport losses?
There are several methods companies use to intentionally misreport their financial status (due to lack on publicly available data, it is not possible to establish how exactly RH provides this contradictory accounting, but the following are some of the ways in which you can do that). One is called transfer pricing. You can undervalue the price of logs that are sold and exported.
For instance, Company A and Company B are subsidiaries of the same company, lets say “Bau Group of Companies”. Company B, as a buyer pays a lower price than the real cost of the timber under an arrangement with the seller, Company A. However, since they both belong to the same company, Company A actually does not loose any money. Company A can declare loss in the country it is operating from, but that money can be recovered by Company B making excessive profits from buying cheap logs, and manufacturing and selling at premium prices.
Another way is, Company A buys logging equipment and machinery from Company C. Both Company A and Company C are subsidiaries of the Bau Group of Companies. Company C artificially increases the price of the equipment so that it is very expensive. Company A buys the equipment nevertheless, but it is not making a loss. The money is going back to Bau Group of Companies via Company C. This way Company A’s expenses end up greater than its revenue, allowing the Company A to declare an operational loss for the year. Company A then can justify not paying corporate income tax under PNG laws, when in fact the group as a whole is making a excessive profits…!
Of the 60 or so companies in PNG identified as being owned or controlled by the Tiong family, which owns the RH Group, over 30 companies engage in logging and agribusiness in operations ranging from timber processing and distribution to the repair of heavy machinery and oil palm production. The Report notes that a “significant amount of RH subsidiaries’ operational expenses are spent on activities, goods, and services offered by their sister companies, leading to a situation in which transfer pricing could easily occur.” Also, according to the Report, “Data from 2000 to 2016 reveals that PNG’s export prices were US$92 less than world average for log prices .” Basically, PNG logs were sold less than the world price.
Why you should not listen to PNG Forestry Association
The government realized this almost cheating behaviour, and introduced progressive tax rate on exported logs in 2017. The progressive tax system allows you to charge different tax rates to different timber species, with rate increasing with the value of timber. The new system resulted in a four percent increase in the average tax rate paid by exporters on the value of exported timber, from 27 percent to 31 percent in 2017.
The Minister of Forests Douglas Tomuriesa and the logging industry, especially Mr Bob Tate of the Papua New Guinea Forest Industries Association (PNGFIA) argued that the tax increase, combined with a falling demand for tropical timber affect the revenues of the companies and by extension, the nation.
According to Tate’s statement in November 2017, the impact of this policy is already being felt: “This year, raising the tax rate resulted in the Government collecting K32 million less in tax revenue than last year. Further tax increases may result in revenues – and landowner royalties – falling to zero, and to thousands more jobs disappearing.”
However, if you compare the export data from before and after the introduction of the progressive tax in 2017, you get a different result. There was in fact a six percent jump in duties paid from K293 million (US$103 million) in 2016 to K310 million (US$109 million) in 2017. The tax rate increase generated an additional K17 million (US$6 million). More interesting fact is that, this increase in revenues was achieved as exports of logs were reduced. Log exports dropped from 3.6 million cubic meters in 2016 to 3.3 million cubic meters in 2017). PNG earned more revenues for less logs. Exports did pick up again after that. So what this shows is that, the Minister and PNGFIA’s predictions were wrong.
Now, with the increase imposed on Log Export Levy tax by the Government from 35% to 59%. The Forest Industry Association reckons it will lose over K1 billion if the industry shuts down operations due to the increase. The same Association, and even the same guy is making this claims. Well here is a trade-off:
You can go into downstream processing as per the direction of the government, or continue to export raw logs, evade taxes, misreport financials, and be forced to pay 59% tax. It not too much, it about time PNG gets its lost revenue for more than 20 years.
Illegally granted Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABLs)
The increase in log exports by PNG in recent years is largely the result of illegally-granted Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABLs),which have added 5.5 million hectares of land to the ten million hectares already under active logging concession. As a result, PNG has surpassed Malaysia as the largest exporter of tropical timber in 2011. Despite PNG being a major timber exporter, the forestry sector contributes a mere three percent to PNG’s total export earnings. To date no decisive action has been taken to stop illegal logging or return land to traditional owners.
In January 2020, company hired policeman went into Foru, lower Musa in Popondetta, and assaulted local land owners who refused to let a logging company from trespassing through their land to log in the virgin forest of the lower Musa Plateau. Oro Governor Gary Juffa has since then stopped the logging after consultation with landowners pending verification of how the loggers attained the license to cut time in the area.
This is just one example. Elsewhere in PNG, loggers act with impunity. Tax evasion is a norm. Illegal practice has become normal. And when the government directs the companies to go into downstream processing, they claim loss of billons of Kina for PNG. There is already massive loss of billions. If you have not read the Oakland Institute Report titled “The Great Heist: Tax Evasion & Illegal Logging in Papua New Guinea”, you should read it.
Many students meet the requirement set by the universities, and even exceed them by large margins, but still miss out due to limited spaces. At the primary school level (grade 8), and high school level (grade 10) even higher number of students miss out because they do not meet the requirements of secondary schools. In 2019, we reached out to someone who has been assisting students to pursue studies through other pathways. Mrs Simiong conducts awareness called “EDUCATION PARTH WAYS FOR SCHOOL DROP OUTS” where she talks to young women on how they can advance their education. Her advice is helpful for students who may want to pursue their education….
By Mrs Lingewe Peiva Simiong
EDUCATION PARTH WAYS FOR SCHOOL DROP OUTS
This article highlights three main ways that are currently available for school drop-outs to continue their education after being rejected from the mainstream.
FODE –Flexible Open Distance Education. (Formerly called College of Distance Education-CODE).This system is directly attached to Provincial Education system but independently administered from Waigani. It has centres in all main towns across the country. FODE system provides syllabuses for Grades 6 to Grade 10 with the recent inclusion for Grades 11 and 12.
FODE centre enrolments:
Enrolment of any Grade six (6) drop outs from formal primary schools to do Grade seven (7) through FODE and continue onto grade ten (10) and obtain grade ten (10) certificate.
Enrolment of any grade eight (8) drop outs from formal primary schools to repeat grade eight (8) and continue onto Grade nine (9) and ten (10) or do Grade nine (9) and continue onto Grade ten (10) and obtain grade ten (10) certificate. There is no age limitation for this partway.
Enrolment of any Grade ten (10) drop outs from formal secondary schools to repeat Grade ten (10) and obtain Grade ten (10) certificate with better results and seek space in formal secondary school systems, to do grade eleven (11).
With the inclusion of Grade eleven (11) and twelve (12) syllabuses recently, any Grade ten (10) drop outs can enrol to do Grade eleven (11) and twelve (12) and obtain a Grade twelve (12) certificate through FODE and apply for tertiary institutions in the country. Or those who have completed grade ten (10) through FODE can continue to do Grade eleven (11) and twelve (12).
Subjects Offered at FODE
Subjects offered at FODE for grades 7, 8, 9 and 10 includes:
English,
Mathematics,
Science and
Social Science.
Major Subjects offered at FODE for grades 11 and 12 includes:
English,
Advance Mathematics
General Mathematics
Chemistry
Physics
Biology
Geography
History and
Economics
How to enrol at FODE
Following steps will be required to complete the enrolment at ant FODE Centre.
Present relevant certificate (Grade 6, Grade 8, Grade 10, and Grade 12) to the nearest FODE Centre and request enrolment.
Fill out application form and select numbers of subjects to be done.
Participate in the entry test on a scheduled date and issuance of entry test results.
Payment of the subject fees at the bank and presentation of the receipt
Issuance of the subject materials, assignment and the schedules for completion of each of the subject.
Sit for subject examinations at the end of the year based on schedules issued by the FODE Office
Issuance of certificate and transcript based on the cumulative assessments
For further information, check FODE website by clicking this link.For more information on entry test and other requirements, check this link.For more information on course offered see here, and to contact the respective provincial representatives check this link.
DODL UNITECH – “DODL(Department Of Open and Distance Learning) is an adult matriculation centre offered by the University of Technology. The DODL study centres are located in all major centres of Papua New Guinea including:
Alotau Study Centre
Arawa Study Centre
Daru Study Centre
Goroka Study Centre
Kavieng Study Centre
Kimbe Study Centre
Kokopo study centre
Kudiawa Study Centre
Lae Study Centre study – Unitech
Lorengau Study Centre
Madang Study Centre
Mendi Study Centre
Mt Hagen study centre
NDC Study Centre – Gerehu Secondary school
Popondetta Study Centre
Wabag Study Centre
Wewak Study Centre
The adult matriculation for University of Technology (Unitech) is now open. You can visit their website to download the application forms by clicking here.
DODL Enrolments
DODL enrols Grade 10 school leavers to do Grade 11 and 12 certificates with transcripts. This is called adult matriculation studies.
DODL also enrols candidates who have completed Grade twelve (12) in the formal education system to upgrade and better their results before applying for tertiary studies.
Courses or Subjects offered at DODL for adult Matriculation studies (any Grade 10 drop outs with Grade 10 certificate)
Persons interested in doing Grade 11 through DODL can choose either science pathway or social science pathway.
Science pathway subjects for Grade 11
English 1
Mathematics 1
Physics 1
Chemistry 1
Biology 1
Science pathway subjects for Grade 12
English 2
Mathematics 2
Physics 2
Chemistry 2
Biology 2
Social Science pathway subjects for Grade 11
English 1
Mathematics 1
Geography 1
History 1
Economics 1
Social Science pathway subjects for Grade 12
English 2
Mathematics 2
Geography 2
History 2
Economics 2
Click this linkto learn more about the current adult and grade 12 matriculation program.
Courses or subjects offered at DODL for candidates seeking to upgrade their Grade 12 results
Persons seeking enrolment to upgrade Grade 12 results are allowed choose either of the two pathways, the Science and the social science based on subject they studied in Grade 12.
How to Enrol at DODL
Adult Matriculation studies
Person interested in adult matriculation studies can present their Grade 10 certificate at the nearest DODL study centres and request for an application form.
Issuance of the application form and a bank deposit form is issued.
On the registration form, you can fill in your details and choose your pathway of studies, either science pathway or social science pathway.
You will then be advised to pay up the subject fees for each subject you have indicated to take.
There are two semesters each year so you can divide your subjects into the two semesters and complete grade 11 and then you can do the same with Grade 12.
When you complete grade 12 at DODL, you will then apply for a grade 12 certificate. Application form will be provided by the DODL study centre you enrolled in.
DODL study centre and PNG Unitech liaises with the Department of Education for the issuance of Grade 12 certificate for students who complete their studies at the centre.
Certificate and transcript issued by the DODL study centre can be used in pursuing studies at the UoT as well as other institutions in the country.
Grade 12 School leavers
Persons interested upgrading their Grade 12 results can present their Grade 12 certificate at any of the DODL centres.
An application or registration form will be given to be completed and submitted with the receipt of payment for the subject fee.
DODL Program is spread over two semesters therefore a student can have the freedom to enrol in semester 1 or semester 2 to upgrade one or two subjects. At least two subjects are offered per semester and therefore to upgrade two or more subject, a student must enrol for both semesters.
Transcript with upgraded result is issued by the DODL study centre which can be used in pursuing studies at the UoT as well as other institutions in the country.
Tutors (teachers) of DODL
DODL Unitech gives the responsibility to each of its study centres to recruit specialised secondary school teachers to be tutors of the respective subjects offered. These tutors teach two (2) hours of lessons per week, normally over the weekends (that is, Saturdays and Sundays). One semester runs for 15 weeks, 14 weeks of lesson and the last week is the exam week for the semester.
Assessment
During the course of the semester, students are required to do six (6) assignments for the subject they are enrolled for. The only exception is mathematics which is nine (9) assignments. These assignments are prepared by the tutors of the respective subject and makes up 30% of the assessment. At the end of the semester, students do an examination for each subject they are enrolled for, which makes up 70% of the assessment. All examinations are uniformly prepared by the DODL headquarters at Unitech and are delivered to each study centres to be administered.
The semester for students is over after the examinations are conducted. Examinations are marked and added onto the assignment marks and sent to Unitech for the final grade to be processed.
For information on where DODL is offered, including centres and specific locations, click thislink.
UPNG OPEN COLLEGE (Formerly Open campus)
UPNG Open Campusoffers opportunity to Grade 12 school leavers to enrol when their GPA is below the requirement set by the four schools and they are left out of the main selection process of the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG). Four schools of UPNG are:
The contact for the main office for Open Campus can be found here.
How to apply for UPNG Open College
Follow these six (6) steps
Get the Application Form for the University of Papua New Guinea.
You can get the Student Application form from the following places: At any of the Open Campuses and Provincial University Centres. All Centers location and contact details are listed on Step 5: Go for Registration below.If you have access to Internet, you can download the form in PDF format from the UPNG Website.
Choose your desired Program which is available through the UPNG Open College.
The Study Programs are offered by the University of Papua New Guinea Academic Schools. The Schools that have Programs on offer through Distance Learning are from the following Schools. The programs the school offers are listed under it.
School of Business Administration (SBA).
Diploma in Accounting
Bachelors Degree in Accounting
Bachelors Degree in Business Management
Bachelors Degree in Public Policy Management
School of Humanities & Social Sciences (SHSS).
Bachelors Degree in Education.
Bachelors Degree in Arts.
School of Natural & Physical Sciences (SNPS).
Bachelors of Science (Foundation Year only and offered only at the 4 Open Campuses. NCD, Kokopo, Buka, Madang).
Launch your application Form.
Once you have got the Application Form and chosen your program you can launch the Application. To launch the application;
Fill the Application Form with all the required information.
Make sure all the required attachments are intact, such as copies of certificates and etc.
Pay the Registration Fee of K20.00 into the UPNG Account indicated on the Form.
Attach the Registration to your filled Application.
Bring it to the Open Campuses or University Centre closest to you. Or you can post it. direct to;
The Executive Officer
UPNG OPEN COLLEGE
P.O.BOX 341
University, NCD, Papua New Guinea.
Confirm your acceptance.
The University of Papua New Guinea receives so many applications academic year and it publishes all the accepted Applicants in a list in the local newspapers as the official Acceptance List. The University may respond to individual students notifying them of the application outcome not to all. Acceptance listed published in the newspapers is often regarded as the official notification. The list is published mid-December for the following academic year and around June for 2nd Semester applicants.
Go for Registration at your desired UPNG Open Campuses or Provincial University Centres.
Accepted students can report to the Open Campuses and Provincial Universities of choice to register on the official registration week. The Registration Date and other related details are published with the Acceptance list.
Contact appropriate people for assistance during your study.
Successful applicants must make it their responsibility to contact appropriate people and follow up on their own progress.
TVET AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES –Technical Vocational Education training and community colleges.
These refer to institutions like vocational schools and community colleges set up by the government and non-governmental organisations like churches.
The motive for these institutions is to train any Grade 6, Grade 8, grade 10 and Grade 12 school leavers in any trades and graduate them with trade certificates to better their lives by seeking employment or use these skills to do something for themselves.
Some examples of trade certificates to be obtained from these institutions are
Trade certificate in motor mechanics
Trade certificate in carpentry
Trade certificates in brick laying
Trade certificate in cookery
Trade certificate in sewing
Trade certificate in tourism and hospitality
Trade certificate in panel beating
Trade certificate in office management
Trade certificate in plumbing
For more information about TVET, including the email addresses of each of the centres, check this link.
For Grade 12 students who missed out on selections to tertiary institutions in PNG, and adults who may want to pursue studies, University of Technology’s DODL and University of Papua New Guinea’s Open College may be the best option. For Grade 8 students who were not selected for Grade 9, and Grade 10 students who were not considered for Grade 11, the best option would be FODE. For anyone interested in technical education, TVET is the best choice.
About the Guest Contributor: Lingewe Peiva Simiong
Lingewe Peiva Simiong holds a Bachelor of Education (B-Ed) from the University of Goroka (UoG) specialising in Science and Home Economics and a Diploma in Science (DSc) from the University of Technology (UoT) specialising in Biology. She has taught in a number of high school and secondary schools in the country including Sogeri National High School. She is currently teaching Biology at Port National High School. Apart from teaching in the classroom, Lingewe is a passionate advocator for female education. She maintains that education is the principal factor that determines liberation of women in PNG. She advices all young female Papua New Guineans who are out of the mainstream education system to pursue life through other education pathways created by the Government.
“The race is not to the swift or battle to the strong…. but time and chance happen to them all” Ecclesiastes 9:11
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Every year, about 20, 000 to 28, 000 students compete for 11, 000 spaces in tertiary institutions in Papua New Guinea (not counting non-school leavers or working class applying for undergraduate degree, and international – mostly other Pacific Islanders – applying to PNG institutions). Many students meet the requirement set by the universities, and even exceed them by large margins, but still miss out. To squeeze students into these limited spaces, the universities are raising the bar higher and higher, forcing out more and more qualified students as a result.
On Monday, I assisted a friend, who brought his nephew’s Grade 12 certificate and a screenshot of his choices. He scored an aggregate GPA (Grade Point Average) of 3.8 out of 4.0. His first choice was to study law at the University of Papua New Guinea’ Law School. His second choice was to study Political Science at the University of Papua New Guinea.
Minimum GPA for Law is 3.0, though one needs to score A or B for English (L&L) and Maths, and avoid getting a D grade for any of the subjects. Political Science entry requirement is even lower, at 2.75. With a GPA of 3.8, this kid was 0.8 points more than qualified to study Law, and 1. 3 points more than qualified to study politics (he was over qualified for both subjects).
He was not selected for either of his choices – Law & Politics, even though he exceeded the requirements. We first went to the law school and asked a senior law lecturer why he was not selected. His explanation was as follows:
The law school has quota or limit of 150 students in any given year. Of the 150 spaces, they must allocate a percentage to school leavers (those finishing Grade 12 the preceding year), a percentage to non-school leavers (those who have completed first degree either at UPNG or other tertiary institutions), and a percentage allocated to international students (usually other Pacific Islanders).
This year, they selected straight A students: that is, students with GPA of 4.0. Even after filling the quota with students with GPA of 4.0, there were still a large number of applicants with GPA of 4.0 who were left out. They were left out not because they were not qualified, but because the faculty does not have enough room to accommodate all the applicants who met the requirement to study law.
So how do they determine who gets selected and who misses out if both students qualify, or even qualify with exactly the same GPA, lets say 4.0.? First, remember the percentage allocated to school leavers, non-school leavers, and international students? Well, the applicants in each pool (percentage allocated to each group) compete among themselves. All school leavers compete for the school leavers sub-quota, which is about half (75 spaces). The non-school leavers and international students compete in their respective categories, which is the other 75 spaces divided among the two groups. Ideally, students with higher GPAs (4.0) gets selected ahead of my friend’s nephew (with a GPA of 3.8). Even then the guys with GPA of 4.0 cannot fit into their respective spaces because there are too many of them.
This is when the A(s) on your certificates are further grade into (A+) , (A) , and (A -) . There process is called Tertiary Selection Score. This method further classifies your grades into three sub-categories e.g. A minus (-A), A, and A plus (A+). If the norm referencing for English, or cut-off mark (set by the Measurement Services Unit) is that any grade above 70 marks is A, then the classifications would be as
follows:
-A: 70-80%
A: 81%-90
A+: 91%-100,
the three grades classified as ‘A’s are further are classified into sub- categories for selection purposes.
Okay, that explains why my friend’s nephew not getting into law, but why was he not selected for Political Science, his second choice? It is the same as the law problem. Politics, which has a quota of 30 (accepts 30 students every year), is way lower than Law quota of 150 (Politics is a discipline within Social Sciences and Humanities, whilst Law is a School of its own). Even though Politics has a minimum GPA requirement of 2.75, only students with straight A(s), GPA of 4.0 got selected because of limited spaces.
This UPNG case can be applied to all universities and tertiary institutions across the nation.
Because they use online selection, the students who do not get into tertiary institutions of their choice are automatically selected for course that they did not apply for, but have met the requirements. My friend’s nephew got selected to study a course at Divine Word University. He neither applied to study in DWU, let alone study the subject he is not selected to study. When students are selected for studies in other institutions or to study other subjects, they are usually selected ahead of students who actually applied to study the same course in that institution as their first choice. The former gets in because of higher GPA even though he did not apply for it. This means that students who have applied for that course, and have met the GPA miss out because their spaces are taken up by someone who did not apply for it at the first place.
Out hope now is to expand existing universities, and build new ones. There is always the debate about jobs. Where are the jobs when they graduate? Getting a job is not the goal, getting a net educated population is the goal. Having the highest per capita university graduate in the region should be our goal. With knowledge they can find their way in life.
This article was first published under the “Education” section of Academia_Nomad.
We are glad you visited the Academia_Nomad blog. This blog is dedicated to bringing research based articles on issues ranging from politics, to business and economics, religion, and sports in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific. The articles are divided into different themes:
PNG Politics – articles on PNG politics are discusses current political issues. Politics of PNG is unstable and changes all the time, there is high unpredictability, that makes even the best analyst is thrown off-guard.
Regional Politics – this bit ventures beyond PNG to cover the Pacific Islands, and the role of metropolitan powers. Chinese increase in the Pacific region has drawn Australia to “step up” in the Pacific, but also witnessed the increasing presence of the United States. More importantly, Pacific islands that used to recognize Taiwan as an independent country are now switching to align with China and renouncing the Chinese influence.
Economic & Business – The part on economic & business covers a wide range of economic and business in PNG and the Pacific region
Letters – this is a collection of inspiring letters written by Papua New Guineans,
Education – This section provides discussions on education policies, standards, and other related issues
Conversation with Founding Fathers & Mothers – this is a very interesting series where the author interviews existing mothers and fathers of this nation, PNG.
Academia Nomad 