PCG Academia was visited on 2nd October by a high-level foreign delegation, representing Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology of Papua-New Guinea (DHERST) – PCG Academia’s client.

DHERST’s delegation consisted of Pila Niningi, Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology of PNG, his wife Martha, and Father Jan Czuba, Secretary of DHERST.

During the visit representatives of DHERST and PCG Academia discussed their joint project, National Online Selection System for Papua New-Guinea. The system was first launched in December 2017 and since then it’s constantly developed and improved by PCG Academia in collaboration with DHERST. Our conversations during the visit were focused on adding more modules and features to the system, further increasing it’s usability according to Department’s needs.

The system already proved most useful during 2017 and 2018 student selection. It brought DHERST an enormous time and cost savings – the time needed for the whole process of selection went down from three weeks to less than a minute, saving the government nearly 2 million U.S. dollars. It’s also a way for the Department to raise the enrollment ratio and ensure equal access to higher education.

Later that day Minister Pila Niningi delivered a speech for all PCG Academia’s employees, in which he thanked for all the efforts toward this project. Minister also emphasized that both universities and DHERST are content to have the modern online selection system. After that the delegation was taken for a tour around our headquarters in Jasionka. Our guests along with the employees working on the project were then invited for lunch, where we continued our discussions on ensuring quality of higher education and many more topics.

The visit of DHERST representatives was followed by meeting of Minister Pila Niningi and Sebastian Skuza, Undersecretary of State at Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSW). The meeting took place in Warsaw at MNiSW’s headquarters. The discussion was dedicated to mutual cooperation in the area of research and academic exchange, including opportunities for studying and training for students both from PNG and Poland. Minister Niningi also invited Polish officials to pay a visit to Papua New-Guinea and become acquainted with local higher education system.

 

In the photo from left to right: Leszek Lewoc (Director for International Development), Ścibór Sobieski, PhD (Product Development Director), Pila Niningi (Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology of PNG), Martha Niningi (wife of the Minister), Professor Łukasz Sułkowski (President of PCG Academia) and Father Jan Czuba (Secretary of Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology of PNG).