Govt pledges K6m for university

THE Lutheran University in Lae will receive K6 million from the national government, Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal says.
Abal made the announcement at the university’s ground-breaking ceremony at the Martin Luther seminary at Malahang last Friday.
He said the idea of producing well-educated people whose degrees were recognised anywhere in the world was paramount and more students should be attending university.
“The bureaucracy needs a shake-up with public servants needing to perform at their best or find themselves losing their jobs to the growing number of university students with degrees on the job market,” he said.
Each year 38,000 students leave high schools nationwide, with only 8,000 finding spaces at the six universities in the country.
Abal said ideally there should be 15,000 students enrolling at universities each year.
He said an increased number of students attending university “will mean competition will become tougher and the best crop of students graduating”.
Abal said the Lutheran church was justified in having a university because it was one of the first churches to have church-run education institutions in PNG.
He urged all stakeholders of the Lutheran University to work together to make the institution a success.
Work on two buildings for the new university is expected to start in two to three months.