Papua New Guinea

University of Papua New Guinea
Institute of Distance and Continuing Education

Prepared by:

Harold Markowitz

Brief description of the programme

Distance education began at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1974, with the establishment of the Department of Extension Studies. In 1994, the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education (idce) replaced Extension Studies, adopting a broader mission and new funding and reporting processes. Enrolment in the distance education programme has increased continuously in recent years, with growth in all programme areas and at each of the 15 distance education centres in the provinces and on the main campus in the National Capital District. The central activities are the Matriculation Programme (upper high school), the Diploma in Commerce Programme (two-year university diploma in accounting), the Bachelor of Education In-service Programme (for upgrading elementary teachers), and the Non-credit Programme (maths and English review). In 1996 there were approximately 16,000 course enrolments throughout Papua New Guinea (up from 4,000 in 1991), and, in 1997, enrolment is expected to show continued increases.

Problems encountered

Planning and managing distance education

•       A lack of planning for growth in distance education is a serious problem. The nation is growing at an annual rate that exceeds most other nations, yet the high school system has increased its intake only slightly by building new schools and the university system has not increased its intake in several years. Increasing enrolments result from the increasing demand for distance education, and increasing enrolments also result from the opening of new centres and new courses, but due to national financial limitations the institution has had repeated cuts in staff and funding.

Using and integrating media

•       Courses are based entirely on the printed page and tutoring, and no media have been introduced. The tropical environment and the lack of air conditioning results in prompt growth of mold on the few audio and video cassettes that have been obtained, soon making them unusable. There are no facilities for creating audio or video cassettes, no staffing or funds to do so, and equipment for playing cassettes exists only at a few centres (and then it is typically one machine in the director’s office). Most centres have a computer for administrative use, but only in one centre are computers used for education.

The most important issue: The planning environment at the university

Guidelines for idce planning are derived primarily from three documents: The national higher education plan, the University of Papua New Guinea’s five-year plan, and the plan for the institute. Though these documents assign our mission and provide the best and most comprehensive structure for our activities, problems with each limit their usefulness.

Both the national higher education plan and the University of Papua New Guinea’s five-year plan have gone unrevised for several years, well beyond the period they were intended to cover, and thus they reflect the priorities and values of several years ago. An example of an outdated value is the advocacy of goals for idce enrolment growth that are so conservative that they were fully achieved six years ago. Current issues and the concerns of the nation and the university have not been woven into the structure of these documents. Examples here are the failure to address the massive change in teacher education and new educational standards, and the failure to reflect major changes in educational emphasis growing out of the restructuring of our national and provincial governments.

Lacking any other guidance, the guidelines provided by the higher education plan and the University of Papua New Guinea’s five-year plan have been closely reflected in the plan for the institute. Indeed, the rationale for operation as an institute is presented in the national higher education plan. The national plan also provides the framework within which growth and development of the institute is expected to occur. idce has continued to take the derived plan for the institute very seriously, particularly since it has been endorsed by the University Planning Committee, the Academic Board, and the University Council. This document was the basis for recurrent requests for increased staffing and financial resources in the past three years, without any results. In fact, the idce central office’s annual budget of 140,000 kina in 1994 has been reduced to 23,000 kina in 1997, which is the equivalent of about one United States dollar per course enrolment. Over the past six years we have repeatedly proposed that a standard be adopted for staffing (most recently suggesting a ratio of 1,000 students to each academic, which if accepted would double our staff) but no action has ever been taken. It must be said that there has been no detectable support for the planning process as a basis for resource allocation in the university.

The plan for the institute contains our view of the idce’s future, and as such it is our guideline for mission accomplishment. For example, in the years ahead our priorities for growth in certain areas and reduction in others will be as outlined in the plan. Similarly, later this year when idce occupies the new building constructed for it by the European Union, and when idce eventually expands its staff and incorporates new media, the utilisation of these resources will be as described in the plan. If and when the national higher education plan or the university five-year plan is revised in the future, the plan for the institute will then be revised to assure the compatibility and support that is required in an effective planning environment. We have elected to be true to our assigned mission of bringing increasing educational opportunity to a nation that desperately needs it. By franchising our courses to private institutions and by raising and retaining registration fees we have assured operating funds for essential idce activities at the main campus. Provinces usually provide budgets for university centres, but some provinces have virtually no money and most centres are in poverty. We have begun a planned reduction in non-credit (remedial maths and English) courses, reducing non-credit enrolments to offset some of the growth in matriculation and degree programmes. Using collected fees we have recently hired two new staff members, though we may not be able to retain them as the university does not provide benefits such as housing because they are not a part of the regular establishment.

In 1997 an estimated 62 percent of all students in the university will be in the distance education programme, but idce has only six academics and two administrators on the main campus and a maximum of two persons at each centre. Funding, already sub-marginal, is expected to decrease by five percent each year for the next three years, disregarding inflation. Staffing has been cut, people who leave are not replaced, and it is difficult to remain confident of our future ability to grade papers much less revise courses. We are at a crossroads, with rapidly increasing demand and massive expectations, and no agreed-upon plan for achieving our assigned goals.