Ministry downplayed Status of AMA
Permanent Secretary (PS) for Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) Dr. Franco Roddie says the first assessment of AMA University is a damning report.
PS revealed this during the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting last Friday.
Dr. Roddie says his ministry is not the rightful authority to ensure quality education provided at the University, but they had an ad hoc arrangement, which a two men team went over for assessment and produced the report.
He said the assessment looks at different aspect of the university as well as the accreditation.
However, PS said the report provided was a damning report.
“That as much as I can say,” he stressed.
He revealed that his senior management were informed and will soon to come up with a decision regarding AMA, as of next year.
PS said decision from the senior management will determine the actions to be taken in year 2018.
Meanwhile, Chairman of PAC Rick Hou said the issue of AMA must be address because it is very important to the budget.
Hou said government spent millions of dollars to send student to AMA, thus the value of money must be taken into account.
According to the university’s website, AMA University and College is a tertiary institution in the Philippines, specialised in computing studies.
AMA has came under spotlight after it surfaced that the school was unclear in its entry process, since students poorly performed in High Schools and nowhere near to secure a space in universities in Solomon and the region were accepted to study in AMA.
Thus, prompting leaders and authorities to verify the quality of education provided there as many people were suspicious of a scam.
According to report from the Minister of Education John Moffat Fugui, he told parliament that more than 500 Solomon Islands students studying in the Philippines sponsored by Solomon Government.
It was revealed as well that the costs of sending one student to AMA is expensive compared to other universities in the region.
Nearly all students sent to AMA were awarded with scholarships under the privileges of the Members of Parliament (MPs) and not by merits.
By AATAI JOHN
