Rebuilding Quality in Higher Education: PNG Needs a Unified System to Fund and Professionalise Its Academics

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 By Bernard Yegiora

PNG is producing thousands of graduates every year from the University of PNG, Divine Word University, the University of Goroka, the University of Technology, and institutions such as the Pacific Adventist University. The volume is rising, yet national stakeholders continue to question the quality of outputs. The core issue is structural: PNG has no unified ecosystem that incentivises academic excellence, research productivity, and continuous professional development in higher education. Without a coordinated financing and remuneration framework, quality assurance becomes aspirational rather than operational.

Screenshot of university logos from for this site: Link

The Government has long prioritised Free Education and TESAS, but the investment pipeline ends at enrolment and graduation. There is no corresponding investment in the people who drive academic standards—university staff. Unlike the Department of Education, which operates a unified salary structure, clear progression pathways, and national professional benchmarks for teachers, the higher education sector remains fragmented. Each institution negotiates salaries and conditions independently, often resulting in misaligned incentives, talent attrition, and limited research output.

The outcome is predictable. Many lecturers enter the academy straight from postgraduate study, receive no research training, and are overwhelmed by teaching loads that leave no space for scholarly work. Without competitive remuneration, research grants, or structured career pathways, PNG academics are structurally discouraged from contributing to new knowledge. The global university system is driven by peer-reviewed research, conference participation, and applied innovation. PNG’s system, by contrast, rewards survival, not excellence.

This raises a direct question that policymakers can no longer avoid: how many PNG academics in various disciplines are consistently publishing in international or domestic peer-reviewed journals? How many are driving new ideas, offering thought leadership, or shaping national policy debates? The uncomfortable reality is that only a small cohort meets global academic benchmarks. Without research output, the curriculum stagnates. Lecturers default to outdated material, generic PowerPoints, and uncritical reliance on online summaries. This erodes the intellectual depth students receive in the classroom.

The downstream effect is national. Graduates enter the public service and private sector with credentials, but not necessarily competencies. Employers highlight declining analytical abilities, weak writing skills, and limited critical thinking. These are not student failures—they are system failures. A higher education workforce that is neither resourced nor incentivised to undertake research cannot produce globally competitive graduates. PNG’s national development strategies depend on sectors—health, engineering, ICT, governance, diplomacy—that require strong academic foundations.

To correct this trajectory, the Government must establish a unified salary and career-progression framework for academics across the tertiary sector. This system should mirror the Department of Education model: standardised salary bands, performance-linked increments, research allowances, and mandatory professional development. A national research fund should be incorporated to support publication, conference participation, and fieldwork, enabling PNG academics to produce new knowledge relevant to national priorities.

Simultaneously, the Government should mandate a minimum research output requirement for all tertiary institutions. Universities must be held accountable for staff development plans, publication metrics, and quality-assurance indicators. This is how functional higher education systems operate worldwide. PNG cannot continue financing student enrollments without investing in the knowledge producers who shape the graduates feeding the national workforce.

PNG must move from aspirational talk to decisive action. The country needs a strong academic workforce, backed by competitive funding, a unified remuneration structure, and a national research agenda. Without these reforms, tertiary education risks becoming a credential-issuing industry rather than a knowledge-creating system. The Government’s investment in academics is not optional—it is a strategic imperative for national development, state capability, and long-term economic resilience.

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