Unitech decides to do away with student council

THE University of Technology in Lae will no longer have a student representative council (SRC) following the student unrest last year.
This was revealed by Unitech Vice-Chancellor Dr Albert Schram (pictured) recently during a consultative meeting between students, staff and project developers of the proposed Uni-City and student mess.
He said the Unitech SRC was suspended last year to prevent further unrest or protests, however, there would be student representatives for each department in the campus.
Schram assured project developers during the meeting that the development of Uni-City would not be affected by any sort of violent protest anymore.
“We won’t have any more SRCs and last year’s protest was instigated by outside influence,” he said.
“The students are not any threat to the development of this project as they are here to complete their studies.”
He said the protest was not as bad as portrayed by the mainstream media so interested developers should not be discouraged to invest in the multi-million kina development as security was not a grave concern
Schram said the university has taken security measures  and would only select the best new intakes in the coming years to prevent strikes from happening.
“We are PNG’s premier university and we will improve our facilities to meet student needs. Students would only go on strike if they experience a lack of learning facilities like library books and run-down dormitories,” he said.
The proposed Uni-City project would see the development of Unitech’s vacant land into a township in the campus.