School of Forestry
Taraka Campus
Our Mission Statement
Recognizing the capacity of forests to generate large number of jobs for a given level of investment, the School of Forestry at Unitech was established to produce professionals, both men and women, with technical production skills and expertise needed to manage PNG’s forest resources sustainably. A well-managed forest is an asset to local and national economies and the well-being of current and future generations.
The School of Forestry of the Faculty of Natural Resources at the PNG University of Technology offers two separate programs. The four-year Bachelor of Science Degree in Forestry curriculum is taught both at the Taraka campus and Bulolo University College campus (BUC).
Since 2019 up to now, the School has been implementing a new curriculum of four (4) subjects per semester at the Taraka campus. The BUC has already began implementing the Bachelor of Forest Management Degree (BFRM) from 2023 up to now and going forward.
We recognize that because Forestry itself is a multi-disciplinary field that requires skills as diverse as research, management, surveying, engineering, forest inventory, wildlife management and conservation, and economics. Our curriculum is equally diverse in the array of topics our students learn about in their classes.
Forestry graduates are employed by an unusual variety of organizations and companies, including industry, different types of non-government organizations (NGOs), and government. Some of our graduates have become entrepreneurs and have started their own businesses, an activity that provides people with a high degree of freedom, prospects for earning a good income, and much more flexibility than those working permanently in the private and Government sectors across the country. Most important of all, our graduates are playing an important role in growing PNG’s economy.
Our Degree Program
The School of Forestry Degree program is in the subject areas of English Grammar and Composition, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Botany, Ecology and Information Technology that are taken during the first and second years of study. In the third and fourth years of the Degree program, more specialized forestry science subjects are taught including Forest Management and Planning, Plantation Silviculture, GIS for Forestry, Research Methods and Analysis, Forest Economics and Trade, Agroforestry and Extension, Forest Inventory and Assessment, Forest Engineering and Timber Harvesting, Wood Science and Technology, Climate Change, Forestry and REDD+, Research Project and Publication, Wildlife Habitat and Management, Forest Products and Industries, Project and Human Resource Management and a non-assessable subject of Professional Work Experience.
Our Degree programs are designed to produce Forest Scientists, Wood Technologists and Scientists, Botanists and Plant Taxonomists, Forestry Professionals and Entrepreneurs in the business sector. Our graduates are trained with skills to also pursue careers in industry, academia or government sectors. The first year of our Degree program is designed to form a common foundation for our students upon which years two (2), three (3) and four (4) of the course form more specialized fields of forest science.
