Students with eligible GPAs miss out because of limited tertiary space : DHERST

Limited spacing at higher learning institutions in PNG has forced many eligible tertiary students to miss out on selections annually.

This was revealed by Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Francis Marus during his recent visit to the PNG University of Technology.

Mr Marus said the performance by students last year was strong and competitive but there were insufficient spaces to cater for them all.

"The past successive governments have failed to create more tertiary institutions to address this overcrowding and limited spacing issue at established government institutions and now the issue is very complex in nature and we are working slowly to address it," he said.

He said there was a 90 per cent massive improvement in academic performance of students in the country so from the statistics of 5000 admitted annually it rose to 9999 admissions this year.

Tertiary admission and scholarship division executive manager Thimon Bune confirmed that students learning and teachers style and method of imparting knowledge has increased dramatically producing quality students as evident by increased graduate numbers.

He outlined that in 2016, 154 national high, secondary and permitted schools sat for the national examination with a total student population of 23, 692.

"Out of the 23, 692 that sat for the national examinations, 15,000 scored are eligible to continue onto higher learning institutions with accepted grading point accreditation.

"However, only 9,999 students were admitted into colleges and universities throughout the country due to insufficient spacing at higher learning institutions," Mr Bune said.