Student Representation and Peaceful Activism at Universities:
Case Study of Papua New Guinea 2012-2018
Lecture delivered at Faculty of Law, University of Verona, Wednesday 27 November 2019, 10 am (5,000 words)
Link to presentation in Italian
Link to presentation in Italian
Albert Schram, PhD©
For giving me this opportunity today to meet the University of Verona law students, I would like to thank Dott.sa Isolde Quaranti of the Faculty of Law of the University of Verona, and representative for the University of Verona for Scholars at Risk. I also wish to thank all members of the recently created, and very successful SAR Italy section for their continuing moral support.
Introduction
Good morning. Let me first congratulate the neighbouring Italian universities of Padova and Bologna for having achieved a place in the top 20 in the Times Higher Education social impact ranking. We hope the newly elected Rettore Magnifico of the university of Verona has taken note, and follows their example. It would be great to have three Italian universities in the top 20 of this new, but prestigious ranking.
The universities of Padova and Bologna have formulated their strategies in terms of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals for the year 2030, and can demonstrate how their teaching, research and outreach contribute to achieving a set of these goals. Unlike the earlier 8 UN Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), which were set for the year 2015, fortunately, the 4th SDG about access to quality education now includes higher education, a theme which was left out by the earlier MDGs.
It is difficult to make predictions, particularly about the future, as a Danish proverb says. Social scientists are no exception to this rule, with one exception: demographers. Today, for example, we already know that about half of the population growth until 2050 will occur in Africa. As a consequence, the population between 15 and 30-years-olds in Africa will increase from about 300 million in 2015 to 400 million in 2030 only 10 years from now, or more than the combined population of this age group in Europe and the USA, as brilliantly explained by Hans Rosling in 2015. Evidently, this will put tremendous strains on energy demand, infrastructure, health and education systems, etc.
What are the implications of this for higher education systems, in particular the role university students can play in university governance? In the developing world, policymakers will struggle to respond to the challenge of massification, while improving academic quality. Providing sufficient, merit-based access - quantity challenges - will have to be addressed while at the same time improving quality challenges so the universities can continue to produce work-ready, employable graduates. Since in a globalized world, the only relevant quality standards are international standards, deep internationalization of higher education systems will have to occur at the same time.
Since a large part of the developing world still has unreformed university systems, inherited from their colonial pasts, the stresses caused by massification and internationalization will require some type of governance reform. These policymakers in the developing world will need to look at examples of university governance, and it is likely they will look to Europe, which is where universities were born, and where we have a high diversity of university systems.
Let's focus now on the role of students in university governance, related one of the 4 objectives of a university to produce graduates who are active citizens for democratic societies. In this lecture, I wish to address two interrelated questions:
How the voice of the student body is integrated into decision-making within universities, as well as the shape and form of active citizenship of the students, will vary according to national context. An assessment of the role of student representation in university governance and student's peaceful activism, therefore, must be placed against the background of the overall goals and purpose of Universities, within the context of the societies in which they operate.
The universities of Padova and Bologna have formulated their strategies in terms of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals for the year 2030, and can demonstrate how their teaching, research and outreach contribute to achieving a set of these goals. Unlike the earlier 8 UN Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), which were set for the year 2015, fortunately, the 4th SDG about access to quality education now includes higher education, a theme which was left out by the earlier MDGs.
It is difficult to make predictions, particularly about the future, as a Danish proverb says. Social scientists are no exception to this rule, with one exception: demographers. Today, for example, we already know that about half of the population growth until 2050 will occur in Africa. As a consequence, the population between 15 and 30-years-olds in Africa will increase from about 300 million in 2015 to 400 million in 2030 only 10 years from now, or more than the combined population of this age group in Europe and the USA, as brilliantly explained by Hans Rosling in 2015. Evidently, this will put tremendous strains on energy demand, infrastructure, health and education systems, etc.
What are the implications of this for higher education systems, in particular the role university students can play in university governance? In the developing world, policymakers will struggle to respond to the challenge of massification, while improving academic quality. Providing sufficient, merit-based access - quantity challenges - will have to be addressed while at the same time improving quality challenges so the universities can continue to produce work-ready, employable graduates. Since in a globalized world, the only relevant quality standards are international standards, deep internationalization of higher education systems will have to occur at the same time.
Since a large part of the developing world still has unreformed university systems, inherited from their colonial pasts, the stresses caused by massification and internationalization will require some type of governance reform. These policymakers in the developing world will need to look at examples of university governance, and it is likely they will look to Europe, which is where universities were born, and where we have a high diversity of university systems.
Let's focus now on the role of students in university governance, related one of the 4 objectives of a university to produce graduates who are active citizens for democratic societies. In this lecture, I wish to address two interrelated questions:
- How do university governance systems incorporate students into structured decision-making? Does it matter? We will look at European cases.
- What can we learn about the importance of student representation and civil activism from a case study concerning an attempt at university governance reform in a developing country, like Papua New Guinea? (Schram, 2016)
How the voice of the student body is integrated into decision-making within universities, as well as the shape and form of active citizenship of the students, will vary according to national context. An assessment of the role of student representation in university governance and student's peaceful activism, therefore, must be placed against the background of the overall goals and purpose of Universities, within the context of the societies in which they operate.
 |
| Protesting Student in PNG: activism is not futile |
In this lecture, I wish to explore the issues of student representation and students' active citizenship in developing countries, shifting my focus away from the traditional perspective which gives almost exclusive attention to internationally established scholars-at-risk, towards attention to university students and administrators, who either speak up on the scholars' behalf, or who protest much wider issues concerning corruption, either in society or the political system at large, or regarding the governance of universities.
Like scholars in developing countries, students too are frequently victims of persecution, and the case of Papua New Guinea will expose the nefarious mechanisms of exclusion of which student leaders are victims. This in turn creates a hesitancy to participate in any form of protest, in particular when the repression of earlier student movements has been violent.
In this lecture, first I will sketch the historical background and legal foundations of student representation in general, secondly, I will give an overview of the situation in Europe, based on surveys held by the European University Association. Thirdly, I will describe the broader importance for countries to have
universities with meaningful student representation in their governance
structure, and the importance of allowing peaceful student activism for
upholding core higher education values: institutional autonomy, academic
freedom, social responsibility, equitable access, and accountability.
 |
| Scholars at Risk: core higher education values |
1- Historical Background and Legal Foundations
Universities are among the oldest institutions in the world. The European university model, however, borrowed from earlier traditions in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Not far from Verona, we find the University of Bologna founded around 1088, and the oldest university in Europe. It was organized around autonomous guilds of students and lecturers and formed an independent body. Since the students paid their lecturers directly, the Rector Magnificus at the University of Bologna in the first centuries, for example, was a student, not a lecturer.These early ideas of autonomy and self-governance by a community of scholars and students are still highly relevant today and constitute a core value of higher education. Often they find expression in traditional dual governance structures - with both a governing board or council and an academic senate -, and in the devolved, shared governance practices through committees that report to these boards. In traditional governance structures, students are represented in many of these committees.
In the Renaissance period, new methods of scientific inquiry emerged, and empirical scientific inquiry in the modern sense came into existence. Obstacles to free inquiry, however, remained. in the early 16th century, Martin Luther, for example, a minister and professor in Wittenberg, Germany, regularly clashed with church authority. In the early 17th century Galileo’s scientific ‘truth’ that the earth revolved around the sun even brought him before the Inquisition.
The first Industrial Revolution in the 18th and early 19th centuries helped to further modernize higher education. Universities had to keep up with new technological and scientific developments and society’s needs to understand and use them. The so-called Humboldt type of research university in early 19th century Germany was mostly successful at meeting these challenges. Their ideas of “lehrfreiheit” (freedom to teach) and “lernfreiheit” (freedom to learn), removed restrictions on academics in the classroom and laboratory, which was the basis for their success in meeting the challenges of the time.
After WW2 when strong repression of academic freedom in Germany and Italy during the nazi and fascist regimes was overcome, universities in these countries and elsewhere in Europe were re-opened based on a democratic model, honouring fundamental higher education values.
In recent years, Europe has had to struggle again with issues around the institutional autonomy of universities and academic freedom. After the
attempted coup in 2016, the government of Turkey,
for example, attacked, dismissed, and imprisoned a large number of
academics. Many are no refugee scholars in Europe or the USA. The Hungarian government has attacked university autonomy and abolished certain fields of study, such as gender studies. This has forced the Central European University to leave Budapest and relocate to Prague
As part of processes of democratic backsliding and populism, there are also worrying developments in Russia, the Baltic countries and even Italy In April 2019 the regional branch of the Lega party asked the University of Bologna to remove Gianluca Passarella's book "La Lega di Salvini" from the reading list of a course taught by a political science professor. This episode has led to some consternation among academics, maybe more abroad than in the country itself.
According to the Council of Europe (2007): "Coherent
higher education and research policies should therefore address the
multiple concomitant purposes of higher education, which include:
- preparation for sustainable employment;
- preparation for life as active citizens in democratic societies;
- personal development;
- the development and maintenance, through teaching, learning and research, of a broad, advanced knowledge base.
The
four purposes identified in the Recommendation are equally important,
and the order in which they are listed does not reflect their relative
importance. Rather, the order reflects current debate, which tends to
emphasise the importance of higher education in relation to the labour
market."
Active citizenship includes the right to protest. In most democracies, however, there is no such thing as a right to
hold a peaceful protest, but it is seen as a manifestation of the constitutional rights to
petition the government, the right to freedom of assembly, the right to
freedom of association, and the right to freedom of speech.
Safeguarding academic freedom is
fundamental for creating vibrant democracies including resilient
university systems, and successful universities. In 1997, the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO
agreed unanimously that "academic freedom" it is the right “to freedom
of teaching and discussion, freedom in carrying out research and
disseminating and publishing results”. As such it is a specific case of
the broader human right to "freedom of expression". The boundaries of
academic freedom can be difficult to determine, but it generally
includes at least the freedom to:
- to teach and discuss;
- to carry out research and publish the results and make them known;
- to freely express opinions about the academic institution or system in which one works
- to participate in professional or representative academic bodies
- not to be censored
2- State of Student Representation and Peaceful Activism
The Magna Charta Universitatum (1989), a statement on the fundamental principles of universities created by the University of Bologna, has now has over 900 signatory universities in 88 countries. Concerning students, it states:
"Each University must (...) ensure that its students' freedoms are safeguarded and that they enjoy concessions (conditions) in which they can acquire the culture and training, which it is their purpose to possess."
(The Italian original is clearer: "Ogni Università nel rispetto delle specificità delle situazioni, deve garantire ai propri studenti la salvaguardia delle libertà e delle condizioni necessarie per conseguire i loro obiettivi culturali e di formazione")
It is clear that students' freedoms include at least basic human rights and constitutional freedoms. In addition, these student freedoms are widely interpreted to include academic freedom and freedom of inquiry.
Let's see how student representation and rights have been integrated into European university governance frameworks. The current trend to strive for continual improvement of teaching, and international accreditation of teaching programs by an independent professional body, makes the involvement of students, but also of industry - the employers of graduates - in the design of programs necessary, or even mandatory.
A recent analysis of the European University Association (2018) by Enora Benettot Pruvot and Thomas Estermann makes clear there are at least five possible university governance models
We can see that the traditional dual governance model - with both a board and a senate - is no longer dominant, with only 7 countries (among which Italy) of 22 countries having such a structure. It is interesting to note that in all unitary systems (9) student representatives are included. We must realize, however, that this analysis does not include student representation at the Faculty level, which can be very important to improve teaching quality, and the learning environment, as well as increase placement opportunities for graduates.
Here is a more detailed overview of the governance structures of the 22 countries participating in the survey:
Despite the differences in their governance systems, in 14 out of 20 European countries (70%) students are included in the board. Only in 9 systems out of 20 (45%), however, are non-academic staff included. We observe that Italy includes students in the university board, but not non-academic staff. Possibly, in the presence of active trade unions in Italy this was not deemed necessary. Moreover, in Italy, external members are included in the university board, but they tend to be government-appointed, and do not represent industry or the private sector.
As to the academic senates in all countries, students are included. However only in 10 of the 16 countries where these bodies exist, are non-academic staff included. The presence of external members, however, is only in 3 of the 16 countries (19%), with Italy being one of them.
The EUA findings can be summarized in this diagram:
We must warn against a simplistic interpretation of this graph, however, since there may be inclusion and representation mechanisms at the decentral Faculty level, which assure the voice of students and non-academic staff is heard and acted upon.
In the past, in Europe student activism was important in driving changes through the higher education system, but also for society at large. In Paris in 1968, but in many other European cities, student protests were massive, and frequently led the way for the massification of universities by offering broader access, and greater inclusion of student representatives into university governance. In Italy, for example, in 1977 there was a large student movement with similar aims. More recently in 1989, the students at Charles University in Prague occupied the university, and played an important role in the "velvet revolution". Often these students' movements are openly or silently supported by university lecturers.
Today, however, in mature democracies in Europe student activism is
mostly channeled through conventional political parties, or sometimes
through their youth sections. In addition, through social media and the
internet unmediated forms of activism have emerged. As a result, in
Europe, student political activism is no longer a hot topic, but this may change again in the future.
In many developing countries, student activism continues to play an important role. University lecturers will not speak up or
be active citizens since they know this would mean they lose their
jobs. It is exclusively the students who will speak up, and continue to do so in the face of attempts to pass anti-democratic legislation or massive abuse of authority by members of the government. University governance framework, like other institutions, are not respected, and therefore somewhat irrelevant.
In conclusion, the European study shows that there are at least five main different university governance systems, and each can be implemented in different manners. In all 20 European countries in this study, students have a formal representation in a senate-like body, and in the vast majority (70%), they also have a formal representation in a board-like body.
The way in which the student's voice is integrated into decision-making, however, varies considerably and must be studied in detail in order to be properly understood. If students are members of these boards, for example, but have no voting rights and are not given relevant information in a timely fashion, their participation in governance bodies or committees is of limited value. Conversely, in the Netherlands, one of the least democratic university governance systems in this sample - where the Rector is appointed by the government, and the students are not represented in either a board or senate - some alternative mechanisms have been found (e.g. faculty level representation) which ensure students are heard.
3- The Case of Papua New Guinea
In
all developing countries where I lived (5), no citizen believes the
main purpose of the government of the day is serving the country's citizens. In many developing
countries, university lecturers will not speak up or
be active democratic citizens, however, since they know this would mean they lose
their
jobs. It is therefore the students who will speak up.
When,
like me, you spent the major part of your career as an academic or university executive in
developing countries, at some point you are bound to end up in the
middle of student protests. Sometimes these protests are led by high-school students, sometimes by university students. Social
activism by students in these countries, in particular in the capitals,
is still tremendously significant because other civil society organizations
are often weak or successfully suppressed by the government.
Student protests sometimes turn violent,
but there are also joyous moments. In the past weeks, we have seen students
involved in civil unrest in Nicaragua, Chile, Colombia, Kenya, Uganda,
and of
course Hong Kong. These protests reflect the lack of good, democratic
governance nationally, and the weak state of state institutions. Many
institutions are structurally weakened by systematic corruption, which
implies that no services are delivered to citizens.
The public universities in Papua New Guinea (PNG) were founded in colonial times in 1965 the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) and in 1967 the PNG University of Technology (PNGUoT) respectively, based on the Australian model of far-reaching university autonomy, and principles of dual and shared governance. Students were included both in the university board or council, as well as the senate or academic board. These principles were embodied in the university Acts, which make the universities statutory bodies.
In this system, the Vice Chancellor has far-reaching powers and is accountable to the University Council only. They were given as a gift by Australia to the young state of PNG. The gift, however, proved to be a Trojan horse with students after independence organizing class boycotts, and protest movements against the government almost every year. In one case, student protests even led to the fall of a government.
In this system, the Vice Chancellor has far-reaching powers and is accountable to the University Council only. They were given as a gift by Australia to the young state of PNG. The gift, however, proved to be a Trojan horse with students after independence organizing class boycotts, and protest movements against the government almost every year. In one case, student protests even led to the fall of a government.
Papua New Guinea became independent from Australia in 1975 after which Australian students and faculty quickly left, never to come back. In 2012, when I joined the Papua New Guinea University of Technology (PNTOoT) as the first European Vice-Chancellor (Rector Magnificus) in 2012, the Somare government had just undertaken an "Independent Review of the University System" (IRUS) in 2009, authored by the Economic John Garnaut and former PNG PM Robbie Namaliu. Around the same time, ExxonMobil made its largest foreign investment in an LNG plant in the country, and the government was widely expected to invest some of the revenues in its decrepit and faltering health and education systems, including the universities.
 |
| PNG Humour: sign at PNGUoT administration building |
The IRUS report made an extensive analysis of the weaknesses and challenges for the universities. After incorporating feedback from the national rectors' conference, it was adopted as government policy. It contained two key recommendations:
- Reduce the size of Council from over 30 members to less than 16, and streamline governance; and
- Deal with academic quality issues first, before increasing the number of students.
These recommendations seemed sensible and served as guidance for my actions. As Vice Chancellor, I was not obliged to carry them out, but in general, I was expected to carry out government policy.
Regrettably, in 2012 Peter O'Neill attempted to form a government, while the Somare government was still in place. For a while, there were 2 prime ministers. In the end, Peter O'Neill forced his way into the Supreme Court and made himself prime minister. His government was therefore never legitimate, and never felt bound by the law.
 |
| Peter O'Neill and his friends storming the Supreme Court |
The problems for the higher education sector started soon afterward, and it was clear that PM Peter O'Neill had no intention of carrying out the recommendations of the IRUS report. In fact, soon afterwards he had Dr. Garnaut deported from the country. Like all other state institutions, for universities too Peter O'Neill wanted to appoint their councils and management. He could not understand how universities could be independent, while the government paid most of their costs for teaching the students.
At UPNG in 2012, for example, there was a major class boycott led by Student Representative Council (SRC) President Emmanuel Isaac against the attempt by Peter O'Neill to censure the judges, through the "Judicial Conduct Act". By contrast, at the PNGUoT from 2012 onwards the students were more concerned by internal university issues.
The Minister of Higher Education at the time was thoroughly corrupt. He was in the habit of calling foreign lecturers, and asking them for money while threatening to cancel their visas if they did not oblige. He also called me asking me essentially to revert my full salary to him, which I refused. As a result of my un-accommodating attitude on 8 March 2013 I was refused entry into the country and deported. A bit earlier, the Minister had fired the whole PNGUoT council.
The Minister of Higher Education at the time was thoroughly corrupt. He was in the habit of calling foreign lecturers, and asking them for money while threatening to cancel their visas if they did not oblige. He also called me asking me essentially to revert my full salary to him, which I refused. As a result of my un-accommodating attitude on 8 March 2013 I was refused entry into the country and deported. A bit earlier, the Minister had fired the whole PNGUoT council.
 |
| PNGUoT protesting students with provincial flags |
To address the impasse, the government order a former supreme court judge, the late Mark Sevua to undertake an official investigation into the Council of the PNGUoT, as well as my appointment as Vice-Chancellor. This investigation was thorough, and took over 4 months to complete the "Sevua Report". It did not produce, however, the results the government expected. The former university council was exposed as utterly corrupt and ineffective, while my appointment was judged as legitimate, based on my academic credentials and career as a university executive in Europe. As a result, a new university council was formed, and I was ordered to return to fulfill my duties.
The pressure from the PNGUoT students through the Students' Representative Council (SRC) was continuous. The staged class boycotts in 2012 (6 weeks), 2013 (5 weeks) and 2014 (8 weeks). When I returned on 4 April 2014, they saw this as a great victory. In fact, it was the first time a civil society organization had been able to reverse a government decision.
 |
| My return as Vice-Chancellor on 4 April 2014 |
While I was in exile in Australia from March 2013 to April 2014, Peter O'Neill managed to establish a true kleptocracy. He politicized all state agencies, and stealing from the state coffers reached a fantastic level. Meanwhile economic growth in the non-resource, real sector declined year after year, while a new higher education act was prepared, abolishing university autonomy.
This Higher Education Act 2014 (HE Act) completely ignored the recommendations of the IRUS report to streamline university governance and improve academic quality and was only concerned with establishing political control. The government also failed to amend the University Acts, creating thus a situation of legal dissonance.
In fact, the only consequential amendments to the University Acts (until today not implemented) referred to the appointment of the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor which would now be appointed by the government, rather than the university council. This was justified by saying a "boycott culture" had emerged in PNG universities and they needed "tough medicine" for at least 10 years.
Of course, I immediately spoke out against the HE Act of 2014 before it was gazetted, but my PNG colleagues were less sure. In 2016, the students at UPNG and PNGUoT again started a protest movement asking Peter O'Neill to submit himself to the courts to be interrogated. Several serious and credible allegations had surfaced involving him in grand corruption and theft.
On 8 June 2016, the tensions of the student protests boiled over, and led to a major incident, when police fired hundred of life rounds at peacefully protesting UPNG students. For a while, the news was circulated that a student had been killed, but this fortunately was untrue. The PNG universities were world news for a moment, and then everybody lost interest again.
On the PNGUoT campus we were able to contain the situation, but in the aftermath, there was fighting among student groups, and several university buildings and cars were destroyed. As a result of these riots, the University Councils decided to suspend the Student Representative Councils, in the case of the PNGUoT permanently. In this manner, I lost my strongest support base.
"Might make right" in the minds of my colleagues in the management and University Council, so in 2017 eagerly succumbing to pressure from members of the government they finally decided I had to be pushed out again. This happened after the government had massively rigged the elections and thought themselves safely in their seats for another 5 years. Eager to oblige with their crookery, the University Council clumsily revived the same false allegations in my regard, which had been set aside by the official Sevua investigation, and used it as an excuse to push me out. Evidently, during the 6 years (2 terms) I was vice chancellor, they could not find any basis for making additional allegations.
Their timing could not have been more awkward because in the last months, less than a year after my final deportation, Peter O'Neill lost the confidence of Parliament and a new government was formed led by James Marape. All the members of the PNGUoT management team and University Council, however, were appointed personally by Peter O'Neill. Now that his crimes become public and he has apparently fled the country to escape justice, it is likely the University Council and management will be replaced.
The move in 2018 to push out two foreign Vice Chancellors was clearly orchestrated by Peter O'Neill and some of his Ministers, who had all been personally frustrated by their inability to buy admission for their family members and do corrupt real estate or construction deals with university land. In fact, the other European Vice Chancellor, John Warren was also threatened with arrest but managed to flee the country in time. I was less lucky and in June 2018 I was arrested by cops for rent. Although there was no primary evidence, I was indicted. Fortunately, I managed to get leave (permission) to return home. In January 2019, the case was finally thrown out because the accusers in 6 years had failed to provide any primary and credible evidence. Regrettably, this happened not after I had lost a job I am good at, and lost all my savings to lawyers in order to stay out of jail.
L'Arena (2018). Docente veronese «prigioniero» in Nuova Guinea. L'Arena.it. Retrieved from https://www.larena.it/territori/citt%C3%A0/docente-veronese-prigioniero-in-nuova-guinea-1.6517463
Council of Europe (2007), Explanatory Memorandum To Recommendation Rec (2007) 6 Of The Committee Of Ministers To Member States On The Public Responsibility For Higher Education And Research, http://bit.ly/2ZLVAnq,
Pruvot, Enora Bennetot and Thomas Esterman (2018) "Chapter 37: University Governance: Autonomy, Structures and Inclusiveness" in A. Curaj et al. (eds.), European Higher Education Area: The Impact of Past and Future Policies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77407-7_37
UNESCO, 1997 UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel, para. 27] http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=12024&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html).
Magna Charta Universitatum. (1988). http://www.magna-charta.org/magna-charta-universitatum
Magna Charta Observatory and the National Unions of Students in Europe, ‘Academic Malpractice: threats and Temptations,’ (Bologna, 2007) http://www.magna-charta.org/research/observatory-publications/academic-malpractice-threats-and-temptations
Schram, Albert (2016). University reform in Papua New Guinea: the Unitech experience. Lecture on 18 May 2016 Australian National University - Development Policy Centre. https://devpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/7612/university-reform-papua-new-guinea-unitech-experience
Scholars fear for future of academic freedom in Italy. (2019, November 02). Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/05/30/scholars-fear-future-academic-freedom-italy
Times Higher Education article 1:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/former-v-c-arrested-return-papua-new-guinea
Times Higher Education article 2
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/expatriate-v-c-flees-papua-new-guinea-fearing-his-life
Times Higher Education article 3
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ousted-vice-chancellor-may-never-return-papua-new-guinea
Times Higher Education article 4:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/exiled-v-c-fights-to-return-to-papua-new-guinea/2012196.article
Videos 2016
At UPNG police shot life rounds at peacefully protesting students, wounding several, and fortunately killing none. The University closed for the rest of 2016 8 June 2016 UPNG students shooting
http://bit.ly/3755pgX
At UNITECH, I was able to bring the Metropolitan Superintendent Anthony Wagambie Jr on campus to talk with the students, which prevented a riot on 8 June. Later, regrettably the students started to fight among themselves, and one student was seriously wounded, and one killed. Nevertheless, we were able to re-open the University on 31 August 2016.
EMTV UNITECH riot prevented
http://bit.ly/352oiiY
This Higher Education Act 2014 (HE Act) completely ignored the recommendations of the IRUS report to streamline university governance and improve academic quality and was only concerned with establishing political control. The government also failed to amend the University Acts, creating thus a situation of legal dissonance.
In fact, the only consequential amendments to the University Acts (until today not implemented) referred to the appointment of the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor which would now be appointed by the government, rather than the university council. This was justified by saying a "boycott culture" had emerged in PNG universities and they needed "tough medicine" for at least 10 years.
Of course, I immediately spoke out against the HE Act of 2014 before it was gazetted, but my PNG colleagues were less sure. In 2016, the students at UPNG and PNGUoT again started a protest movement asking Peter O'Neill to submit himself to the courts to be interrogated. Several serious and credible allegations had surfaced involving him in grand corruption and theft.
 |
| The economic record of the Peter O'Neill years |
On 8 June 2016, the tensions of the student protests boiled over, and led to a major incident, when police fired hundred of life rounds at peacefully protesting UPNG students. For a while, the news was circulated that a student had been killed, but this fortunately was untrue. The PNG universities were world news for a moment, and then everybody lost interest again.
On the PNGUoT campus we were able to contain the situation, but in the aftermath, there was fighting among student groups, and several university buildings and cars were destroyed. As a result of these riots, the University Councils decided to suspend the Student Representative Councils, in the case of the PNGUoT permanently. In this manner, I lost my strongest support base.
"Might make right" in the minds of my colleagues in the management and University Council, so in 2017 eagerly succumbing to pressure from members of the government they finally decided I had to be pushed out again. This happened after the government had massively rigged the elections and thought themselves safely in their seats for another 5 years. Eager to oblige with their crookery, the University Council clumsily revived the same false allegations in my regard, which had been set aside by the official Sevua investigation, and used it as an excuse to push me out. Evidently, during the 6 years (2 terms) I was vice chancellor, they could not find any basis for making additional allegations.
Their timing could not have been more awkward because in the last months, less than a year after my final deportation, Peter O'Neill lost the confidence of Parliament and a new government was formed led by James Marape. All the members of the PNGUoT management team and University Council, however, were appointed personally by Peter O'Neill. Now that his crimes become public and he has apparently fled the country to escape justice, it is likely the University Council and management will be replaced.
 |
| New in Verona's local paper |
The move in 2018 to push out two foreign Vice Chancellors was clearly orchestrated by Peter O'Neill and some of his Ministers, who had all been personally frustrated by their inability to buy admission for their family members and do corrupt real estate or construction deals with university land. In fact, the other European Vice Chancellor, John Warren was also threatened with arrest but managed to flee the country in time. I was less lucky and in June 2018 I was arrested by cops for rent. Although there was no primary evidence, I was indicted. Fortunately, I managed to get leave (permission) to return home. In January 2019, the case was finally thrown out because the accusers in 6 years had failed to provide any primary and credible evidence. Regrettably, this happened not after I had lost a job I am good at, and lost all my savings to lawyers in order to stay out of jail.
These high-profile Vice Chancellor persecution cases of Prof. Warren and myself, however, were a mere reflection of the battle for university autonomy and transparent and accountable university governance. In the end, all the students who had fought so hard lost out. Now the politically appointed, and thoroughly politicized university administrations could not care less about the students' plight.
At a personal level, the student leaders at UPNG and PNGUoT were all excluded from jobs through various mechanisms, including direct threats, but also the spreading of slanderous allegations. Most are self-employed, and only one of them has a job, but in a remote area where he is grossly underpaid.
The SRC at the PNGUoT is still indefinitely suspended, and with the current management unwilling or unable to maintain shared governance, the cycle of student boycotts and anger is bound to be repeated over and over again. This story has no Hollywood ending.
The SRC at the PNGUoT is still indefinitely suspended, and with the current management unwilling or unable to maintain shared governance, the cycle of student boycotts and anger is bound to be repeated over and over again. This story has no Hollywood ending.
Final Remarks
What can we learn about the importance of student representation and
civil activism from a case study concerning an attempt at university
governance reform in a developing country, like Papua New Guinea? (Schram, 2016)
First of all, we see that in PNG the stated aims of governance reform (IRUS report), are diametrically opposed to what really happened (HE Act 2014) We can learn that student representation in university governance in developing countries can very swiftly be ended. As a result, initial successes of student activism can easily be reversed. Since the condition of students is temporary by its very nature, long-term strategies for a student movement are hard to formulate and implement. Admittedly, PNG is not a typical case, since it faces daunting development challenges and tensions: it was one of only two countries in the world not to have achieved a single MDG in 2015.
This case of botched university reform makes clear, however, that battles around university autonomy and academic freedom, do not always involve scholars who ask "dangerous questions". Often it is simply students and administrators standing up, or impeding official corruption. It also shows that the governance structure as stipulated in the University Acts, in the face of an illegitimate, corrupt, kleptocratic government abusing its powers, is not worth the paper it is written on.
First of all, we see that in PNG the stated aims of governance reform (IRUS report), are diametrically opposed to what really happened (HE Act 2014) We can learn that student representation in university governance in developing countries can very swiftly be ended. As a result, initial successes of student activism can easily be reversed. Since the condition of students is temporary by its very nature, long-term strategies for a student movement are hard to formulate and implement. Admittedly, PNG is not a typical case, since it faces daunting development challenges and tensions: it was one of only two countries in the world not to have achieved a single MDG in 2015.
This case of botched university reform makes clear, however, that battles around university autonomy and academic freedom, do not always involve scholars who ask "dangerous questions". Often it is simply students and administrators standing up, or impeding official corruption. It also shows that the governance structure as stipulated in the University Acts, in the face of an illegitimate, corrupt, kleptocratic government abusing its powers, is not worth the paper it is written on.
I hope my lecture has helped you to gain a better understanding of what academic freedom is, and why it is important to defend it always, together with the other core higher education values. In a more globalized world and with universities becoming more student-centred, the importance of standing up for these core higher education values is greater than ever. As the famous American Abolitionist and liberal activist Wendell Phillips said on January 28, 1852:
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty;
power is ever stealing from the many to the few".
References
L'Arena (2018). Docente veronese «prigioniero» in Nuova Guinea. L'Arena.it. Retrieved from https://www.larena.it/territori/citt%C3%A0/docente-veronese-prigioniero-in-nuova-guinea-1.6517463
Council of Europe (2007), Explanatory Memorandum To Recommendation Rec (2007) 6 Of The Committee Of Ministers To Member States On The Public Responsibility For Higher Education And Research, http://bit.ly/2ZLVAnq,
Pruvot, Enora Bennetot and Thomas Esterman (2018) "Chapter 37: University Governance: Autonomy, Structures and Inclusiveness" in A. Curaj et al. (eds.), European Higher Education Area: The Impact of Past and Future Policies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77407-7_37
UNESCO, 1997 UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel, para. 27] http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=12024&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html).
Magna Charta Universitatum. (1988). http://www.magna-charta.org/magna-charta-universitatum
Magna Charta Observatory and the National Unions of Students in Europe, ‘Academic Malpractice: threats and Temptations,’ (Bologna, 2007) http://www.magna-charta.org/research/observatory-publications/academic-malpractice-threats-and-temptations
Schram, Albert (2016). University reform in Papua New Guinea: the Unitech experience. Lecture on 18 May 2016 Australian National University - Development Policy Centre. https://devpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/7612/university-reform-papua-new-guinea-unitech-experience
Scholars fear for future of academic freedom in Italy. (2019, November 02). Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/05/30/scholars-fear-future-academic-freedom-italy
Times Higher Education article 1:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/former-v-c-arrested-return-papua-new-guinea
Times Higher Education article 2
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/expatriate-v-c-flees-papua-new-guinea-fearing-his-life
Times Higher Education article 3
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ousted-vice-chancellor-may-never-return-papua-new-guinea
Times Higher Education article 4:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/exiled-v-c-fights-to-return-to-papua-new-guinea/2012196.article
Videos 2016
At UPNG police shot life rounds at peacefully protesting students, wounding several, and fortunately killing none. The University closed for the rest of 2016 8 June 2016 UPNG students shooting
http://bit.ly/3755pgX
At UNITECH, I was able to bring the Metropolitan Superintendent Anthony Wagambie Jr on campus to talk with the students, which prevented a riot on 8 June. Later, regrettably the students started to fight among themselves, and one student was seriously wounded, and one killed. Nevertheless, we were able to re-open the University on 31 August 2016.
EMTV UNITECH riot prevented
http://bit.ly/352oiiY
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.