Divine Word University is a national

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. It is one of the newest

tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

institutions in the country. It was established as a university by an Act of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1996. The university is ecumenical and coeducational, and is under the leadership of the

Divine Word Missionaries The Society of the Divine Word (), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. As of 2020, i ...

History

Its first educational institution was Divine Word Secondary High School. In 1980, this became Divine Word Institute, established by an Act of Parliament. It is based in

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. History Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai was probably the first Eur ...

on the north coast of

. On-site accommodation is available in DWU as well as day attendance for local students. Divine Word University has five

faculties Faculty or faculties may refer to: Academia * Faculty (academic staff), professors, researchers, and teachers of a given university or college (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a large department of a university by field of study (us ...

. These are

Arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

, Business and Informatics,

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

Health Sciences The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences – those sciences that focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple a ...

, and

Theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

. In 2012 the former Faculty of Flexible Learning was changed into the Flexible Learning Centre and each of its constituent departments migrated to one of the other faculties for administrative purposes. The University offers undergraduate degrees as well as Masters programs in most faculties, and the PhD. Masters and PhD programs can be done on a full-time basis or off campus in distance mode by occasional attendance and work completion. The university is amalgamating and affiliating with a number of institutions to provide a broader base of education. In April 2002, the College of Allied Health Sciences (Madang) amalgamated and St. Benedict's Teachers College in

Wewak Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city (seat) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak. ...

East Sepik Province East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 450,530 people (2011 census) and is 43,426 km square in size. Its density is 10.4 people per square kilometer. History Cherubim D ...

joined in August 2003. These institutions are now campuses of DWU. In 2013, the university joined in operating Tabubil Hospital in

Tabubil Tabubil is a town located in the Star Mountains area of the North Fly District of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. The town, including the adjoining relocated village of Wangabin and the industrial area of Laydown (where industrial equipment was ...

, Western Province. In 2016, the university appointed Cecilia Nembou as president and vice-chancellor, the first woman to hold the position of

vice-chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

at a university in Papua New Guinea.

Affiliations

* The Catholic Higher Education Association (PNG) * The Asia-Pacific Conference of SVD-administered Universities

Notable people

* John Z'graggen (former faculty member)Pawley, Andrew. "In Memoriam, John (Hans) Z’graggen, 1932–2013." ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 53, no. 1 (2014): 170-175. .

References

About DWU

External links

University homepage
{{coord missing, Papua New Guinea Universities in Papua New Guinea Divine Word University Madang Province Nondenominational Christian universities and colleges Religious organisations based in Papua New Guinea Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea Universities and colleges established in 1980 Divine Word Missionaries Order 1996 establishments in Oceania