US signs MoU with UPNG

Caption Pic 2: UPNG Registrar Jennifer Popat, Professor Rao, and Natalia Capel, signing the MoU. 

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, January 19, 2014 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

A MEMORANDUM of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) and the United States Embassy in an agreement that will see an Education USA Advising Center established at the university’s main campus in Port Moresby.

Education USA is a global program and the signing marks the program’s expansion into the country.

The advising centers will maintain a library of materials on US colleges and universities, reference guides on standardized tests, and internet access to research institutions and scholarships. 

There will be an Education USA Adviser selected from within the university, who will provide accurate, comprehensive, current and unbiased information on educational opportunities in the United States. 

The adviser will offer information sessions as well as individual and group advising services. 

Pro Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs, Professor Pulapa Rao, spoke of the signing as a great opportunity for the students of UPNG to gather the required information of the higher education opportunities in the US.

“All students after completing bachelor program, those willing to get any further studies in the US can get all the information needed from the university here,” he said.

“We will provide the facility and in addition provide the internet and computers for students to take online entrance exams for the various institutions.”

“This centre will provide our students better opportunities to choose better universities- not only in the US, but also in other countries.”

“Also apart from the students, even our academic staff, those who are at the tutor level can also use the facility for their master degree or PhD degrees and thus it helps us in our human resource development in UPNG in particular and the country at large.”

Representative from the US Embassy, Natalia Capel, spoke on behalf of the embassy expressing satisfaction and excitement about the new partnership.

“The University of Papua New Guinea has always been a very positive, and we have always been happy to have activities, events, and even initiatives and this is just one more of those, and we are taking it to a new level,” she said.

“We want to have more Papua New Guineans studying in the United States, which offers a great value in education that is top quality.”

“The education system in the United States is also very flexible, so we want Papua New Guineans to explore that flexibility and the variety of programs that are offered in the United States.”

She said that there were plans to expand the centre out to the various universities in the country- with conversations taking place with other universities like Divine Word University and Pacific Adventist University.

 

All services will be free of charge and the centre will be located in UPNG’s Student Services Building, which is scheduled to open on February 11 next month in time for the orientation for the first year intake into the university.