Papua New Guinea University of Technology Annual Report 2021

The Strategic Plan (SP) 2020 – 2024 is in its 3 rd year of operation, and the objective has now been cascaded down to Tier III of the staffing levels for action. Each staff member had to deliver time-bound key performance indicators (KPIs), and respective HODs at the Tier II level monitored the performance of each staff.
The impact of COVID-19 affected the practical application of the strategic framework; however, much progress was made towards achieving major objectives. Performance assessment was not effectively rolled out due to a lack of HR capacity to operationalize action plans for each Department. This led to Council approval of the restructure at the Executive Management Level, where the Executive Director HR position was created to establish the function of effective performance management and appraisal system of each staff against progress towards achieving the objectives of the Strategic Plan.
The SP 2020-2024 has seven (7) domains (pillars). However, given the restructure mentioned above, the functions of the Registrar position is now focused on STUDENTS only. It was, therefore, necessary to create a new domain. Therefore, the Strategic Plan now has Domain No. 8 focusing on STUDENTS.
The goal of Domain 8 is to establish a conducive study and living environment for all students here at Unitech. Some additional duties include providing accommodation services and information on employment opportunities for students.

Meanwhile, progress has undoubtedly been made in achieving key objectives under academic excellence. Critical requirements for advancing the engineering accreditation process have been met. The Chartered Practicing Accountants (CPA) PNG, have agreed to assist with accreditation of the Business Studies courses to industry standards. Architecture and Construction Management courses have already been benchmarked with the Australasian Architecture Schools Association (AASA) since 2008-2009, and now, in the process of accreditation.
The Agriculture Department has successfully affiliated with the Australian Institute of Agriculturalists, qualifying the courses to have been benchmarked to Australian Standards. Benchmarking of other courses will be a time-bound KPIs for the Departments in 2022.

The Executive Management decision to invest K800,000.00 into research is realizing the benefits. Unitech Postgraduate School has expanded to approximately 170 students with 15 PhDs increasing the research portfolio. Lecturers and Professors alike, while supervising students, have been publising papers in peer-reviewed journals on an average of 90 papers per year since 2020. This is a breakthrough for Unitech as very few papers have been published in past years. This has given rise to Unitech being the top University in PNG and in the top 20% of universities globally, as Uniranks Inc.
A positive impact of COVID-19 was the establishment of the Online Course Delivery Working
Committee, which began preparations for hardware and softwares to deliver Unitech courses online to remote students starting 2022.
The funding position of the University has grown from strength to strength. The maintenance of the Unitech ailing infrastructure is progressing satisfactorily. Student dormitories have been given a facelift. Unitech has now been accorded another year of unqualified audits, bringing the total years to four (4). Financial reports indicate that Unitech has completed the financial year 2021 with an
aggregated operating surplus of K10 million. The Executive Management will use parts of these funds to address the immediate demand for housing, student dormitory, and other infrastructure. Part of the fund was used to pay a one-off bonus to all University staff as a token of appreciation for successfully completing the academic year amidst the disruption due to COVID-19.
Student numbers continued to rise in 2021. Unitech had a total of nearly 3000 students on the main campus. The high number was realized with the assistance from the Government HELP program. Many students who could not afford school fees successfully secured the HELP loan and enrolled to study. All student accommodation space on campus has been fully occupied, and submissions have been made to the Government’s PIP fund for more dormitories. The new Student Dining Hall
construction has begun and will be completed and fully operational for Semester 1, 2023.

Associate Professor Ora Renagi OL

Vice Chancellor