Papua New Guinea students skill up in banking

Monday, May 14, 2007

Papua New Guinea students skill up in banking

Amongst graduands at tomorrow’s Business graduation ceremony in Palmerston North will be two who are coming all the way from Papua New Guinea to receive their postgraduate diplomas in banking.

Georgina Drapasuwei and Karen Moata studied entirely in Papua New Guinea under a programme run by Massey University’s Centre for Banking Studies.

Banking lecturer Claire Matthews says this is the first time students have come over for graduation from the programme, which has been running since 197 and involves block courses held in PNG every year.

The programme is part of efforts by the banks in PNG to upskill their local staff and reduce their use of expatriates, says Ms Matthews.

“In 1997 We were approached by the PNG Institute of Banking {now the PNG Institute of Banking and Business Management} which wanted to access the diploma for Papua New Guinea-based students. The banks (including ANZ and Westpac) wanted to reduce their reliance on expatriate staff, primarily from New Zealand and Australia. They looked at programmes in both Australia and New Zealand and decided ours best suited their needs.

“Since then we have run one paper each year in Port Moresby, which means students take four years to complete the Diploma. So we travel to the students, with costs paid by the PNG banks. Studying part-time in this way allows the students to continue working while they are studying, which is another benefit.

“The classes are small and meeting them annually for four years means that we get to know them well.”

ENDS

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