By EDDIE OSIFELO
SOLOMON Islands National University has denied any influence by Vice Chancellor Ganesh Chand to advertise 228 positions currently.
This after some people have questioned the decision by SINU to end the contracts of such high number of lecturers during the covid-19 pandemic period.
However, Estee B. Lonamei, Senior Marketing and Promotion Officer, said this is part of the transition from certificate and diploma holders to bachelors and Master programmes.
Lonamei said these groups of positions are those that transition from Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE) to SINU.
He explained on 22nd June 2015, SINU council then, which was led by Sir Nathaniel Waena passed a resolution to have all positions adverted in the market when and before the contracts expired.
“The resolution was made so that the University MQR (Minimum Qualification Requirement) is updated.
“This resolution was never been implemented until the current council met on 29th March 2021 and revisited the resolution and asked the management to implement this decision. (Therefore, it is never a management decision made by VC Ganesh Chand),” he said.
Further to that, Lonamei said the 2015 resolution was made because they have lecturers who are certificate holders teaching certificate courses, or diploma degree holders teaching diploma courses and same with Bachelor degree holders teaching bachelor courses.
He said it shouldn’t be the case in any University.
“Bachelor holder should only teach diploma or certificate courses.
“Now, SINU have offered Masters courses, and we can’t have Bachelor holders teaching the Masters courses, we have to have PhD holders,” he said.
Lonamei said the current holders of the positions they advertised now are given the opportunity to re-apply for the positions.
He said they are not kicked out or removed as you claimed.
“The current exercise is to look into the market again, there are a lot of our qualified people coming back from studies and still in the “jobs hunt”.
“This is the opportunity for them to compete with current holders,” he said.
Lonamei said the bottom line is that, the University is working towards providing the best quality education our university can provide.
Moreover, he said concerning exam markings and grading, the University under each Faculty has that managed already.
He said the current advertisement won’t affect it.
