This time of year is a hectic one for me as I work at a university and our annual cycle of work is often dictated by the arrival of students in September.
Although I've been pretty busy, out of curiosity I asked one of my colleagues if they knew how many Papua New Guinean students there are studying here. We certainly see a lot of international students but I had no idea how many (if any) were from PNG.
I was disappointed to learn that over the last few years there have been no more than 6 people from PNG registering and only some of those actually arriving to start their studies here. It is certainly a long way to travel, and to be so far from family and friends would definitely put me off.
There are several universities in Papua New Guinea and lots of career specific colleges to study at too, as you can see from this list of approved Institutes of Higher Education from the Office of Higher Education. Even if you were looking for a world class institution then there are 9 of the top 50 by reputation that are much closer than coming to the United Kingdom.
So really I should not have been so surprised!
