from the National 20 Mar

Unitech crisis ends. BY PETER KORUGL.
AN independent team will look into the allegations made by the National Academic Staff Association (NASA) against the University of Technology administration. This was one of the key points agreed to by the university council and NASA members over the weekend. The crisis resolution had encouraged the more than 2,000 students to return to their classes yesterday after being away for about three weeks and brought an end to uncertainty, frustrations and fears within the campus. University sources said the terms of reference for the team, yet to be announced, would be drawn up and agreed to sometime this week.The Ombudsman Commission would also investigate the allegations, many of which are “serious”, according to Morobe Governor Luther Wenge. Mr Wenge had met the NASA executives at the height of the crisis at the Taraka campus. The independent team was expected to present their findings after the third or fourth week. If there were sufficient evidence of mismanagement and malpractices at the university, then the senior executive management will be sidelined and the Ombudsman will take over, the source said. The issues were resolved by NASA members and the council over the weekend, leading to the signing of the agreement. The crisis resolution had encouraged the more than 2000 students to return to their classes yesterday after being away for about three weeks and brought an end to uncertainty, frustrations and fears within the campus. The students had feared that the current academic year could have been wasted and that they would have to come back next year to repeat their courses. “They (students) are back in classes and everything is very quiet on campus,” a source in the student representative council told The National.