University eyes cuts to bring printing costs under control

COST-SAVINGS initiatives is the focus of all staff and students at the University of Goroka.
One area where the university sees a lot of wastage is the cost of printing consumables purchased each year from different suppliers. There is no value for money.
To minimise this the university council, in a recent meeting, undertook to stick with one supplier to install cost-saving new copiers in the three major schools: Humanities, science and education.
Last week, a new copier/printer was installed in the social science division for the school of humanities to use.
Pro vice-chancellor policy and planning Donald Gumbis, when cutting the ribbon to officiate the gathering, said that it was Dr Luke Apa, former catholic priest-cum-lecturer, who initiated the deal.
“We have a lot of aging machines that need replacing,” he said.
“The top management team has seen the need to replace these machines. There will be one big one each in the three schools for staff and students to stop people running down to the vice-chancellor’s office.”
Gumbis said it was time to invest in student learning by providing learning materials easily accessible by students. He said the university was planning to buy new vehicles to replace the aging ones. It will also give K500,000 each to the three schools, including the Michael T Somare Research Institute.
Dean for humanities Sakaya Botu said the “gift” was a welcome sign of the new “holistic leadership style” undertaken by the top management and that it was a good investment for the university.