University of Papua New Guinea Acting Vice Chancellor, Vincent Malaibe, is concerned that the quality of students coming into UPNG cannot cope with the standards at the institution.
Mr. Malaibe made this remark after saying the university had experienced a drop in the number of students progressing to the next semester of the academic calendar in the recent past.
He said many students cannot cope with what is being offered at the university, and that contributes to costs for university resources, which requires money.
Mr. Malaibe says the issue is of viability to ensure quality. He said over the years, the number of students progressing from a program continues to decrease, and those results in less professionals graduating out of the university. Doctors are an example.
Malaibe says, this puts pressure on the university to increase resources on educating students to university standards, and that in itself, costs money.
He said every year, the university is faced with funding issues and the government in the past has failed to keep their end of the bargain by providing support.
The university currently has a budget cost of K224 Million.
K190Million of this is recurrent cost but the university was only allocated K51.3Million in the 2018 budget.
University Chancellor Dr. Nicholas Mann says the university is trying to move down the path of independence, and not to rely on government who has other commitments.
He said this is to ensure quality of education at the university level, and its standards are not compromised.
