Over 18,000 grade 12 students who sat for the National Examination this year will miss out on selections for Tertiary level of education. The Acting secretary for the Department of Higher Education Research Science and Technology (DHERST) Dr Francis Hualupmomi confirmed that 29,463 students sat for this year’s national exam, however only 11, 000 can be accommodated at the Tertiary level. The existing tertiary institutions can only take up to 11,000 students and this has been the case for the past years with so many grade 12 students with good marks missing out on the career of study they chose. During the Higher Education Transition and Reform launching last week, the Prime Minister James Marape challenged the Department to create more space at the Tertiary level that can be able to cater for 30,000 students. Dr Hualupmomi said the main agenda on the current reform in the Department is to be able to provide alternatives for the huge number of grade 12 school leavers who miss out on selection due to limited space. “Every year we have 29,000 to 30,000 students and we only have 11,000 of these students who can access the higher learning institutions.” “So the Prime Minister has directed the Department to increase the 11,000 to 30,000 which we plan to execute.” The Acting Secretary said they are looking at investing into Digital Education as this is one area that has already evolved during the current COVID-19 pandemic which can be able create for more space in Tertiary institutions while complimenting the transition the Department is going through. The Grade 12 selection list will be released to the public on 21st of December while a 4-day grace period from the 14th-17th December will allow students to adjust their choices on their school leaver forms before final selections are made.