No increase in UPNG fees

The announcement by the University of Papua New Guinea today for tuition fees to remain the same from last year (2017) will bring comfort to parents and students attending the university.
The announcement by the University Council today is the result of an agreement reached between the University and the Minister for Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Pila Niningi in which the government will pay the campus up to K17 million which it had committed to the University last year but didn’t honour it.
Acting Chancellor Dr Nicholas Mann explained that the University was forced to increase its fees due to the fact that they did not receive the required funding from the government over the years.
He said the fee hike is the end result of UPNG’s move to become less dependent on the government after so many years of failed commitments by the government.
“The cost of goods and services has increased but allocation by the government has decreased so you cannot expect the services to increase unless there is a social funding coming outside the government, and this is the dilemma UPNG has been dealing with”
However, for this year the University Council hopes that the government stays true its commitment and pay up the K17 million that can cover some operational costs now that they have agreed to apply the same fees from last year. PNGFM/PNGToday