Student Life
Student life in the School of Electrical Engineering is vibrant, engaging, and hands-on. Our students are part of a supportive academic community that encourages innovation, collaboration, and personal growth both inside and outside the classroom.
Academic Experience
Students gain strong practical skills through laboratory work, group projects, and real-world problem solving that prepare them for professional engineering careers.
Student Organisations and Clubs
Students are encouraged to join engineering-related clubs and societies that promote teamwork, leadership, and technical skills development.
Industry Exposure & Career Development
Through industry attachments, site visits, and guest lectures, students gain valuable exposure to professional engineering environments.
Student Stories or Testimonials
My name is Withney Kiapa, I studied Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Communications Engineering from 2018 to 2021, and officially graduated in 2022.
Student life was both demanding and transformative. From year 1 to year 3, we studied both Electrical and Communications Engineering, which allowed me to appreciate the breadth of the field before specializing. I found myself enjoying both strands but Electrical Power Systems stood out as my favorite course. There was something beautiful about understanding how a network of electrical devices work together to generate, transmit and deliver power to communities. At the same time, courses like Object-Oriented Programming pushed me far beyond my comfort zone. Learning programming concepts built around objects and classes was challenging, frustrating at times, but ultimately regarding and empowering.
What made my student life truly meaningful were not just the lectures and labs but the people. The lecturers in the department were passionate and committed, and I am especially grateful to my final year project coordinator, whose guidance and encouragement carried me through one of the most difficult periods of my academic life. Equally important were the friendships I built. Having friends who showed up to lectures together, shared notes, studied late into the night, and supported each other through exams made all the difference. Those friendships became my strength and remain lifelong bonds.
My final year was the defining chapter of my journey. While working on my final year project and attending classes, I was also pregnant, and during my Semester 1 break, I travelled to Mt. Elimbari in Simbu Province to collect field data. Balancing fieldwork, academic deadlines, and exhaustion was incredibly difficult. Many nights were spent choosing between rest and staying awake to meet submission deadlines. Alongside this, I carried leadership responsibilities as the 2021 PNGUOT SRC Female Senate Member for the Electrical and Communications Engineering Student and Staff Association (ECESSA) and as a Student representative on the University Student Disciplinary Committee (USDC). These roles required regular meetings and a strong sense of responsibility to both students and the institution.
Despite everything, I pressed on. Through strict time management, clear priorities, faith in myself, and the support from friends and mentors, I not only completed my studies but achieved my highest GPA in my final year. That experience taught me that limits are often mental, and that perseverance can carry you further than you ever imagine. In 2022, I proudly graduated with my baby boy and as the only female in my graduating class. In the same year, I was blessed with employment from a prestigious mining company in the country. PNGUOT shaped me not only into a professional but into a stronger woman, and a mother who believes that with determination and support, no challenge is impossible.
My name is Richard Tokom, and I studied Electrical Engineering (Power) at PNGUoT from 2016 to 2020. My journey was challenging, especially balancing heavy academic workloads with the practical application of what we learned in the classroom. Finding employment after graduation was also not easy, but with faith in God, determination, discipline, and courage, I overcame these challenges and secured a position in the mining industry.
One of the most memorable experiences of my student life was my final-year project, supervised by Mr. Gibson Porkime, an expert in oil, gas, and energy regulation in Australia. The project, which focused on the conceptual design of the Pangalu Geothermal Power Plant and a proposed 132kV transmission line linking West and East New Britain Provinces, was a defining highlight of my studies. Beyond academics, I truly enjoyed the balance of academic, social, and religious activities on campus. My time in the School of Electrical Engineering taught me resilience, shaped my professional mindset, and prepared me for life beyond university.
