Australian High Commission
Papua New Guinea

Graduates receive post-course visit from Australian university lecturers

Participants from the Australia Awards Fellowship Graduate Certificate in Human Resource Management (HRM), have received a boost from a visit by their University of South Australia lecturers to some of their provincial government departments.

As part of their certificate program, the university will have its two course leaders play a role in post-course activities to further the participants’ progress and evaluate the fellowship’s impact and success.

This success is already evident by the fact that all 27 participants have passed their assessments and achieved their Graduate Certificate.

The Course Facilitators, Mr Ross Morriss and Dr Lindsay Ryan visited two provincial administrations in West New Britain and East Sepik to gain a better understanding of local operating environments and build links with Papua New Guinea’s national HR initiatives and policies.

The pair visited the West New Britain Provincial Administration in Kimbe earlier this month accompanied by participants, Immanuel Tomarum and Dorcas Gambu, before returning to join a three-day post-course workshop in Port Moresby.

After the workshop they accompanied participants, Freddy Kupiaw, Susan Dambui and Heidi Kaivi to the East Sepik Provincial Administration in Wewak.

“This is a very special opportunity for Fellowship participants to interact with their lecturers at their place of employment,” said Ms Suzanne Edgecombe, Counsellor (Education) at the Australian High Commission in Papua New Guinea.

“Human resource management plays a significant role in the running of all enterprises and governments, and these graduates will contribute greatly to Papua New Guinea’s capacity development in this field.”

Ms Agnes Tamate from Papua New Guinea’s Department of Personnel Management (DPM) also joined the group on both provincial visits.

“The Government of Papua New Guinea, through the DPM values working closely with the Australian Government to help ensure the Australia Awards Fellowship Programs in Papua New Guinea are results-oriented and their impacts make for better outcomes for participating agencies,” she said.

“I think the Fellowship programs are very appropriate for this. The more participants that are involved, the more opportunities arise for them. And the skills they acquire are able to be applied upon return to the workplace,” Ms Tamate said.

At the post-course workshop in Port Moresby, the 27 participants debriefed and prepared strategies for their return to the workforce through a series of planning sessions.

The participants were drawn from government departments across Papua New Guinea and received specialised course work aimed at government human resource departments and improving human resource management skills, particularly in recruitment and selection, workplace learning and development and people leadership and performance.

The West New Britain Provincial Administration plans to conduct a pilot program based on recommendations arising from this year’s course.

The participants collaborated amongst themselves to complete various course projects and develop a strong network of HRM professionals capable of supporting each other to apply their knowledge and implement projects they developed on-course when they return to work in Papua New Guinea.

The outcome will be a network of government professions across the country composed of human resource leaders of the future.