Province plans to sponsor students abroad

 THE East New Britain provincial (ENBP) government plans to sponsor 10-15 Papua New Guinea students to study in the Philippines in 2015.

Five officials from the province visited universities in the Philippines last month which already have PNG students enrolled in their institutions.

This is part of the ENBP government’s plan to formalise a provincial government policy that will create scholarship programmes that cover tuition and other services for PNG students who study in local and overseas universities. 

Just this year, the ENBP government sponsored two students to take up engineering courses in the University of San Carlos (USC) through the education placement services of Paradise International Education Consultancy (PIEC).

PIEC is an education placement agency based in Cebu, Philippines, that has already enrolled more than 360 PNG students since it started in 2012.

ENBP government and its officials are trying to look outwards in solving the education problems in the province by partnering with education agencies to send students abroad for studies.

The universities there are really competitive and are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

Ekonia Walom Jr, one of the students sponsored by ENBP and taking up bachelor of science in mechanical engineering at the University of San Carlos, said he was amazed with the massive libraries. 

He said the future PNG students would find the Philippines, especially Cebu, a conducive place to pursue their studies.