A faculty in one of the country’s leading universities has been found to have breached the Higher Education selection policy and regulations, thus, illegally producing an additional selection list.
Secretary of Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Fr Jan Czuba, said severe actions will be taken against the UPNG School of Business and Public Policy for this malpractice.
Fr Jan said this issue was brought to their attention by affected students and through the online selection software, Higher Education Department was able to get to the bottom of this.
“Because of the online selection software, Higher Education Department established that students with GPAs of 3.2 were removed from the initial (formal and recognised) list and were replaced by students with GPAs lower than 3.2,” explained Fr Jan.
Fr Jan further explained that the School of Business and Public Policy made their own list through nepotism and bribery, and this list is not accepted by the Higher Education Department.
He said serious disciplinary actions will be handed down to the UPNG administration, specifically the Business Faculty, and the penalties will be made known soon.
For now, the person responsible for the illegal list will pay all TESAS Scholarship expenses for students on the illegal list pending the administration’s decision whether or not additional students should be taken on board.
Fr Jan said full TESAS scholarship per student costs K30,000.
“The students who were selected online have been awarded TESAS scholarships and the benefits that come with it while those on the illegal list will not receive government sponsorship,” Fr Jan reiterated.
Fr Jan confirmed Higher Education Minister, Pila Niningi, served a final formal warning letter to the UPNG Administration last week.
(UPNG School of Business and Public Policy building)