(This is now 2 years ago. Case was thrown out in January 2019 for lack of any evidence. Here is the record of my PhD. It was all madness.
University governance is still thoroughly politicized and ignores students needs. All academics in #PNG with experience working in world-class universities have left, academic quality improvements have stopped, internet at UNITECH has collapsed, and crisis is tangibly upon these universities.
University management and Council were all appointed by Peter O'Neill.)
University governance is still thoroughly politicized and ignores students needs. All academics in #PNG with experience working in world-class universities have left, academic quality improvements have stopped, internet at UNITECH has collapsed, and crisis is tangibly upon these universities.
University management and Council were all appointed by Peter O'Neill.)
Albert
Schram, the former vice-chancellor of Papua New Guinea’s second largest
university, has warned that the country’s higher education system will
face crisis unless corruption is rooted out and threats against foreign
academics cease.
Dr Schram was
speaking from Singapore, where he landed on Sunday. The PNG authorities
allowed him leave the country after arresting him and confiscating his
passport earlier this month.
Dr Schram,
whose leadership of the PNG University of Technology is praised by
Australian academics who follow the country, was controversially ousted
as vice-chancellor in February after being accused of not verifying his
PhD credentials, even though his 1994 doctorate from the European
University Institute in Italy has been thoroughly verified.
He
said his experience underlined dangers facing PNG higher education. He
said the government had recently consolidated political control over
universities, and ministers were able to appoint favourites to
chancellor and vice-chancellor positions.
“The attack on me was clearly led by the chancellor (a government appointee),” he said.
Dr
Schram said PNG universities were reliant on foreign academics, who
made up about a quarter of faculty members across the institutions.
He
said foreigners were hired because there were not enough credentialed
locals, a situation made worse because talented Papua New Guineans who
went abroad to study often did not want to return to the uncertainty of
working in a PNG university. “Unfortunately, that is what happens,” he
said.
Dr Schram said that without foreign academics the academic leadership of universities would disappear.
“If these people leave you can close the university because it will become a high school,” he said.
“I
do not understand why the minister of higher education can’t see this
and cannot stop academics being accused falsely and being wrongfully
dismissed.”
He said that with PNG
hosting meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum this
year and trying to stimulate its tourism industry, it could not afford a
situation in which “police abuse is rampant”.
The
court order that allowed Dr Schram to leave the country ordered him to
return by June 12 to face court again on charges of “false pretence”
over his PhD credentials.
Dr Schram
said on his blog that his case should be thrown out because of a lack of
primary evidence and it then might not be necessary for him to return
to the country.
He said that because he
“gave his word to the court”, he would go through the costly process of
having his original doctorate notarised and send to the court in PNG.
Dr
Schram said he had worked for a local salary at Unitech and now faced
financial ruin because of the costs of defending the case.
“Nobody
can accuse me of personal gain. I’ve lost everything,” he said. “I’ve
been financing from my personal reserve the fight against corruption.
“I cannot be silent, I am so indignant about this whole affair.”
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