West Papuans start English-speaking International University

The National Weekender
LANGUAGE

Jayapura is the home to both the oldest and largest university in Melanesia, Cenderawasih University, and now Melanesia’s newest university, the International University of Papua, known as Universitas Internasional Papua (UIP) in Indonesian. Under the slogan “From Papua, by Papuans, to the World”, the university was officially opened at a ceremony in Jayapura on 14 February. Unusual for universities in Indonesia, this university will be offering all its classes in English, making it an attractive option for some PNG students, especially those in the border region.
Like PNG, the Indonesian province of Papua has hundreds of different languages. Indonesian (“Bahasa Indonesia”) is both the national language and the common language. At school, classes are all conducted in Indonesian.
University classes are also normally held in Indonesian, with all textbooks being locally produced and in Indonesian, so there is little need for most people outside the tourist industry ever to use English.
Students do start to learn English four hours a week in grade 7 and continue studying English until grade 12, but few teachers speak English in these classes, so even most university professors end up not being able to converse comfortably in English.
For many years, church and community leaders in Papua have looked at the widespread use of English in their neighbour to the east and complained that a lack of English stops them from having the easy access to world knowledge that Papua New Guineans have.
Several years ago, a group of Papuan educators decided to do something to change this by establishing a university that would teach all its classes in English and would emphasise the specific educational needs of Melanesian students.
The first step was to establish a non-religious, educational foundation to further the education and development of Papuan students, the Yayasan Maga Edukasi Papua (Maga Education Papua Foundation).
The main aim of the Foundation was to establish an English-speaking university for Papua.
The Foundation faced a number of problems in achieving its goal, including land ownership disputes and getting approval and financial assistance from the national government in Jakarta.
But with the support of Papuan Provincial Governor Lukas Enembe, the Foundation was able to open the International University of Papua on 14 February, with the first intake of students expected in September this year.
The university will open with two faculties, the Faculty of Science and Technology, offering degree programs in the technology of industry, the technology of physics, and the technology of energy, and the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, offering degree programs in English teacher education and anthropology teacher education (anthropology being an important subject in public high schools in Papua).
The university will also operate a Papua Media Centre and a Papua Research and Development Centre.
The head of the university, the “rector” in the Indonesian university system, has not yet been appointed.
The university will coordinate with language programs already being run by the Maga Foundation through its Papua Language Institute (PLI). According to PLI Director Samuel Tabuni, the Papua Language Institute has intensive English classes to prepare local students to enter the university.
It also offers classes in Tok Pisin for business people involved in cross-border trade and in Russian for students taking post-graduate courses in Russia.
The Maga Foundation also offers Bahasa Indonesia classes to the general PNG public through its Vanimo-based Papua International Learning Centre.
This Centre is run by Pieter Upessy, formerly a visiting Bahasa Indonesia lecturer at UPNG.
According to Mr Upessy, while PNG and other foreign students will not need a knowledge of Indonesian to study at the university, they will need basic Indonesian language skills for daily life outside the university.
Dr Wiem Burung, Director of the Papua Research and Development Centre, says he is hoping to have strong ties with other institutions in the region, especially in areas of research important in Melanesia, such as language and culture.
He says that in the future, the university hopes to contribute to research in Melanesia by offering postgraduate degrees, but for the moment, its graduates will go overseas or elsewhere in Indonesia for masters and doctoral courses.
He himself was awarded a PhD from Oxford University and says he sees access to international postgraduate study as vital to the development of his province.
Dr Burung says the university is hoping to attract PNG as well as local students.
He says that with the campus only 90 minutes by bus from the Wutung border crossing and the low cost of living on the Indonesian side of the border, the university can add to the educational resources of Papua New Guinea as well as of West Papua.

  • PNG students wanting more information about the university in English can contact information officers by email on [email protected] or [email protected] or by Whatsapp on +62.812.4771.3891 or +62.813.5409.5372.