By MICHELLE AUAMOROMORO
THE Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (DHERST) is now partnering with the provincial governments as part of its major reform to create strategic partnerships with key stakeholders.
The provinces that DHERST will be partnering with are mainly those where the higher learning institutions are located.
Acting Secretary for DHERST Francis Hualupmomi said the purpose of this arrangement was basically for the department to collaborate with the provincial governments to support higher learning institutions.
“In terms of infrastructure development, we want to share cost with the provincial administration to invest in any higher learning institution in respective provinces,” he said.
This partnership would also support scholarships, invest in ICT and work on new initiatives such as establishing new institutions.
“We want to improve the ICT infrastructures so we can bring quality high education to doorsteps.
“This basically means to have online learning as it is more efficient and students can save cost by studying in their own provinces instead of moving to other provinces.
“Also, through this partnership, when the provincial government in future want to establish new institutions, they would have to work closely with the department to do that.
“This partnership would also enable the department and the provincial government to work together during emergency cases like the student unrest,” he said.
East New Britain (ENB) and Milne Bay Provincial Government signed their Memorandum of Partnership (MOP) with DHERST on Friday last week.
The ENB Deputy Provincial Administrator Levi Mano said the singing of MOP was a milestone on how Papua New Guinea managed its DHERST institutions.
“I say this because we are host to seven of them.
“Those seven institutions are in the communities; the communities that belong to us, communities that we look after and the communities that we are given the opportunity to provide services to.
“That is why the signing today, to me, was a breakthrough because we will now also have some say on how those DHERST institutions in our province are managed.
“We will partner well to avoid situations such as the one that happened at Kokopo Business College (in late April),” he said.
Milne Bay Provincial Administrator Ashan Numa also said that he hoped to see more higher learning institutions being established in the province through this partnership.
“Southern Region, excluding National Capital District does not have many tertiary institutions.
“In Milne Bay we only have one (St. Barnabas School of Nursing) that is actually prominent in the province.
“We’d like to build and establish institutions in our province so our children and our future generations can go to tertiary institutions in our own province.
“That is why we are very thankful for this MOP because it would be able to address this,” he said.
Meanwhile, DHERST had already signed the MOP with Western Highlands and is looking forward to singing the MOPs with Madang, East Sepik and Bougainville.
