UPNG SRC polling continues

University of PNG students will finally have representation in the UPNG Council.

Polling, which started on Tuesday October 20th, continues today.

Seven male candidates have contested for the presidential post; four candidates are from the School of Law, two candidates are from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and one from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Four candidates have contested for the vice-presidential post; two female candidates from the schools of Law and Public Policy and two male candidates, also from the School of Law.

The call for nomination began on the 5th of October and closed on the 13th.

Polling began on the 20th and ends on the 21st (today), followed by counting on the 22nd of October and written of writs on the 23rd of October.  

After four years of suspension, 2021 will see students have an official voice representing them in the UPNG Council meeting.

UPNG Vice Chancellor, Professor Frank Griffin, alluded that the decision to re-establish the SRC was done before his time and it has now been honoured.

“The University of Papua New Guinea did not have the student representative council (SRC) for the last four years since 2016 when it was suspended. It is very important that students must have a voice in the running of the University.

“The decision to re-establish the SRC was taken before our time so we are using the rest of this year to make sure that the elections are held and that the constitution is updated and the SRC for UPNG will be ready for the first semester of 2021,” Professor Griffin added.

Unlike the past SRC elections, the 2021 election came with a twist.

“The representation will be along professional groupings rather than provincial or tribal groupings as it has been in the past. This is because UPNG is a national university and we would like to promote nationalism rather than provincialism or regionalism,” said Professor Griffin.

(Students during campaigning; Article and pictures by Albert Moses – final year UPNG Journalism student)

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Albert Moses