Online application set for uni

By HEZRON KISING
NON-SCHOOL leavers this year will now have easy access to the Papua New Guinea University of Technology’s (Unitech) application forms online after the launch of its online application form yesterday.
The online application platform is a more efficient, time-saving approach for students to access the application forms through their phones and apply directly after filing from anywhere in the country, Unitech officials said.
Unitech information communication technology (ICT) commercial programmer Koi Norum, who is in charge of website, said it took his team about a month to complete.
There are plans to create an online payment gateway with the local commercial banks for the students to register online as well.
Norum said with the installation of the software, students could use their smartphones to access the application, save it, fill it in and submit it via email.
Applicants receive automatic feedback informing them if their application was successful or not.
Unitech Pro Vice-Chancellor (academic) Dr Augustine Moshi said the programme would lessen the amount of work for the staff when dealing with application forms annually.
He said it would cut down the potential for bias between staff and applicants, create a good filing system for data that could be easily accessed by staff and increase the accessibility and availability of the forms.
School registrar Veronica Thomas said it would save time for staff in processing application forms and make their interactions with applicants efficient so students and parents did not have to travel to the school and follow-up applications.
She said it was a big step forward for the school which would help sort out the volume of work.
Thomas said last year, the university received about 3,000 applications and that number was expected to increase this year.
The application forms cost K50 and the online application forms are now open after the launching yesterday in Lae.
The project was initiated by the university’s ICT department.