After many complaints from political leaders about the University Of Goroka (UOG) not doing its mandated job to teach, train and produce quality teachers, UOG is now refocusing its strategic directives to focus more on producing quality teachers.
Vice Chancellor Dr. Teng Waninga says, operating for 26 years now as a specialized teacher education institution in the country comes with a great responsibility to produce quality teachers so that they bring quality back into the schools they go to and teach.
He said, this major restructure model is called 3+1 which means that students will do 3 years of content study and 1 year of education apart from the previous years where students had to do 4 years of content and do a PTD which is 5 years of study which is quite costly for parents.
“Apart from UOG’s major restructure which is the 3+1 module, the university will and continue to teach other courses as there is a need for other programs to be taught. Dr Waninga said, the major restructure that they will do is to have all the courses that they run that are taught in primary, secondary and school of excellence will run under the 3+1 module so that all training teachers will go through that process and study, qualify and become teachers.
“These will benefit students as they will gain confidence and knowledge from each of the subjects they take and graduate under the new 3+1 module.”
The University of Goroka’s Council will now reform the university to concentrate on Teacher Education and these includes;
• Conduct academic program audit and recognize existing programs to produce quality teachers • Review all the content degree programs in line with the country’s manpower need and off load all essential programs to online learning
• Immediately upgrade, reform and build ICT infrastructure to accommodate online degree programs • Establish UOG study centers in the 22 provinces and link them to the main campus through the online learning infrastructure to cater for the grade b12 push outs with required GPA level. Build UOG along the theme; bringing gowns and degree to your location.
• Enhance UOGs existing programs in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu and expand to other pacific island countries
• Coordinate and plan reform strategic plan by the 2nd quarter of 2023 • Review UOG organizational structure in line with the strategic plan, recruit best and qualified man power to implement the reform strategies
• Review existing governance structure and processes and establish a robust governance to enhance accountability, transparency and efficiency
• Investigate and identify staff who continuously interfere with the student selection process and take necessary asction against concerned staff. More so, identify weakness in the selection process and rectify them immediately
• Make English a compulsory course for all trainee teachers to undertake during the 4 years program
• UOG is a state institution and the administration is to make sure the interest of the state is protected and promoted at all times. Investigate and remove all conduits for external influence including the nearby communities.
Dr. Waninga said, since the university’s establishment as a college in 1961, has grown in terms of academic program, infrastructure and including staff and students progress.
“One of the major transition took place in 1997 when the UOG ACT was passed and it became a fully-fledged University.”
Dr. Waninga further stated that, given the current demand from the stakeholder bad the national demand for quality secondary teacher, the council will reform the University to concentrate on producing quality teachers by this year.