UQ graduates part of building good governance in Papua New Guinea

It's the end of a long journey for twenty women from Papua New Guinea who will graduate from The University of Queensland today. The public servants, all recipients of the government-funded Australia Awards Fellowship-PNG, studied a tailored Graduate Certificate in Governance and Public Policy in the School of Political Science and International Studies. Rachel Colaso from UQ's International Development Office said the program was customised to meet Papua New Guinea Government training needs. "The women were nominated by their department heads, due to their potential as future leaders within the PNG Public Service," she said. "The course provided an important opportunity for the women who would not otherwise be able to study internationally at a post-graduate level." Mrs Colaso said the short program, which included five and a half weeks at UQ, catered for the fact many of the women had young families. Christine Boude took leave from her job and left three children under five to travel to Brisbane. "I think I did all my crying the week before I left, but if I had another opportunity like this I would take it again," she said.