Finding Pathways in Education in Timor-Leste Conference July 2015

Recommendations to UNTL from the different groups

Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods

UNTL consider the introduction of a Diploma 1 in farming directed at those with land who wish
to turn it into a productive farm, and another course, possibly Diploma 2 for those already
experienced in farming who wish to train as Agricultural Extension workers.

UNTL consider the introduction of a fisheries unit and a forestry unit in the Agriculture courses.

Conference recommends a Diploma 1 in Rural Womens Leadership be initiated with teaching

possibly to be done outside of Dili, to be done in collaboration with the Country Womens
Association of Australia and VU Alumni Deb Salvagno (founder of East Timor Women Australia)

Infrastructure and National Systems

IT and Libraries
The UNTL library should be the learning hub of the university, it needs to be an attractive,
accessible space which includes Internet access, both through desktop computers and laptops
which can be borrowed to allow students to access multimedia learning resources including
books, magazines, government and UN documents, film resources, online journals and e-books,
Scanning, printing and photocopying should also be available in the library. A good model for
this is the Learning Commons at Victoria University. Staff (who could be senior students) need
to be employed to teach new students how to use the equipment and access databases. Other
services such as help with essay writing skills, database searching and career counselling could
be available in the library. Group study rooms would also be a useful addition.

Teacher Education and Schools

Teacher education at UNTL should include practical work in schools in all years of the course,
initially for observations purposes and later to demonstrate teaching skills the student has
gained.

The possibility of a Diploma 3 in Secondary Teaching could be considered for those students
who have left the university after Year 2 in order to take up school teaching positions yet have
no teacher training nor academic qualifications at all.
UNTL Should develop some capacity to carry out research on the education system in Timor-
Leste, including primary, secondary and various types of skill development courses for the
workplace.

Health and Wellbeing

UNTL should consider more rigourous selection processes for students in the Health Science
Faculty to make sure that students have the aptitude for health work, patient care etc. as
currently they are tested purely on their marks in an academic test.

Pathways from one area in health e.g. nursing and a higher level e.g. Medicine should be made
easier for promising students. Community Health Volunteers, and Red Cross Volunteers, who
do a very basic course which could be taught at Community Colleges should have access to
more general education (possibly in collaboration with Educao Recurrente) so they can plan
to take a pathway to nursing, pharmacy, eye care, physiotherapy or one of the other health
sciences.

Conference recommends a Diploma 1 course in Youth and Development to be offered in the

Community Development Department in collaboration with major international NGOs already
working in this field, following the model of the successful Diploma 1 in Community Based
Rehabilitation for people with disabilities.

Law and Justice

Conference recommends the Faculty of Law consider a change in its system of entry for
students, selecting only one third of students from current school leavers via the governments
exam, selecting another third from students who have completed a recognized preparatory
course (e.g. the FUP course) and another third from entrants of any age working in other areas
of the justice sector e.g. police, prisons, clerks of courts etc. who meet the require language and
literacy levels.

Financial Inclusion
The Central Bank announced its strategy for Financial Inclusion not long after the conference
and it incorporates a strategy for education of young children through the schools in the habit
of saving, understanding money, banking, interest rates and consumer issues. However there is
a great shortage of trained personnel to do this implementation and the Central Bank is
concerned at the lack of people trained with financial skills coming out of the university system.
The Conference recommends a Diploma 1 course in Financial Services be made available for
those wishing to enter the banking industry, entry should be competitive and based on skills
and aptitude for the job as well as having basic high school moths and literacy. Those
successful in the job could later complete and economics degree for promotion to more senior
positions in the banking world.

Financial Counselling is a course taught at Victoria University in Melbourne and has created a
profession of people who can help those in trouble with managing their money, a Timorized
version of this could be very useful in some communities.

Conference recommend the Faculty of Economics introduce a fieldwork unit for students in first
and second years where the go out to rural areas and assess the understanding of money
within various rural communities, engage with the people around some of the objectives of the
governments financial inclusion strategy.

Conference recommends the Accountants Association be given more support to act both as a
setter of standards in Accounting Education and to actually deliver courses in Accountancy itself
in collaboration with Accountants Associations in other countries. Similar assistance could be
given to other professional associations.

Structures of Post-secondary Education

In the workshop on Regulatory models in Post-secondary education it became clear that ANAA
and INDMO perform quite different functions, ANAA regulating and accrediting institutions who
have already decided to offer particular courses of subject matter, while INDMO accredits
actual syllabuses and competencies but cannot be sure that any of them will actually be made
available to prospective students, it thus becomes highly difficult for students to seek out any
alternative to university.

During the course of the conference, in particular the parallel sessions on IT and Librarianship,
and financial inclusion, it became clear that INDMO has accredited some courses which are not
being taught by any of the accredited providers. UNTL could play a valuable role by delivering
Diploma one courses in fields where there are skill shortages in Timor-Leste e.g. IT, financial
services, librarianship and some social services e.g. youth work and womens rural leadership.

Should the government decide to implement the recommendation on Community Colleges,

UNTL should devise articulation pathways from each of the Community Colleges course into
relevant degree courses at UNTL or recognize the Community College courses as entry level
qualifications into a range of courses in any Faculty.
Good Practice in Higher Education
Together with the Government of the RDTL, UNTL Deans, Rector and Vice-Rectors should
examine a way of improving the selection process for students into Bacheralata and
Licenciatura courses so that

a) Students are more likely to be studying courses In which they are interested (e.g. some
aptitude testing be involved).
b) Students are drawn from a wider range of age cohorts who have the required
background]
c) Academics and university administrators have a role in selecting their own students into
their courses from applicants who have chosen than course and are adequately
prepared.
UNTL should introduce the concept of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), for example in the study of
languages. This could enable students to be exempted from doing units of languages in which they are
already proficient and free up their time to do something else. RPL could also enable students to switch
from one course to another while gaining recognition for some of the units they had already completed.
RPL is also the basic tool for giving holders of certificates and diplomas advanced standing (exemption
from some units) in Bacherelato and Licenciatura degrees. It can also be used to grant entry of some
students into postgraduate courses without a first degree if the learning and experience they have
gained in the workplace is deemed by the university to be equivalent to a Bacherelato or Licenciatura.

Conference recommend that students have a choice of whether to complete a degree at Bacherelato or
Licenciatura level and that the choice be made in consultation with lecturers at the end of second year,
taking into consideration the progress of the student. Not all students should have to complete a
monografia. A short mini-thesis or professional project in third year is often better preparation for the
workplace.

UNTL should examine the possibility of a Graduate Certificate (and Diploma and Masters) in
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education for all new teachers and for those applying for
promotion, so that each lecturer becomes a reflective practitioner and can assist their
students to engage in research-based learning along the lines of that recommended by the
Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL). Workshops for lecturers and
research students along the lines of Victoria Universitys Demystifying the thesis should also
be held for those new to thesis supervision and fourth year students.

Lecturers should be encouraged to broaden the types of assessment they use in gauging the
learning of students, in addition to essays and research assignments students should do oral
class presentations and demonstrate the skills they have learnt in the practical components of
their course, including use of official and working languages. This should stem from a
confidence in using the constructivist model of learning and attempts to assess higher order
objectives of learning in addition to simply memorizing.
Improving the Quality of Language Teaching at UNTL
The workshop on language teaching emphasized the need to see language not as a fixed, measurable
entity but rather as a set of diverse communicative resources for getting things done, including
building relationships. This means taking into account the existence of different spoken and written
styles, different genres with distinctive forms for different professional registers (e.g. medical
communication, education curricula or legal documents) and requiring competence of different
communicative repertoires.

UNTL should consider making the learning of Portuguese and English more worthwhile for
students of all Faculties, for example all students who enter UNTL could be tested and placed in
a class at their level of ability in Portuguese and another one at their level of English from 1 to
6. The requirement could then be for each student to move up at least two levels during the
course of their degree rather than just complete levels 1 and 2. The weekly classes taught by
the lecturers could be supplemented by classes held after hours taught by volunteers who are
native speakers of that language (as currently happens for many students at UNTL), where
students are grouped in the same levels as for their formal classes. Film screenings and
discussion sessions in the respective languages could also be organized outside the classroom
to assist students to become familiar with expressing themselves.

Course content should include an introduction to the literature in Portuguese or English

relevant to the Faculty concerned and the library should be equipped to include these books,
journals and magazines as well as relevant on-line documents. Verbal presentations in front of
the class should form a part of the assessment to move up to the next level. With a few
administrative changes like this and a good curriculum in each language It should be possible
for keen and hardworking students to reach the level required to study in an English or a
Portuguese speaking country by the time of graduation with their first degree without having to
resort to expensive commercial colleges. Those who already have good Portuguese or English
skills will no longer be forced to waste their time in elementary classes.

Gender
Female students at UNTL, while equally talented to their male colleagues, often face greater
difficulties in completing their degrees due to family expectations and responsibilities. Also
married students and those with children often feel they should not be at university as it is only
for young people. UNTL needs to welcome students at the beginning of their studies with an
adult program, emphasising that all university students are adults and must take responsibility
for their own learning. Facilities should be established for students who are parents such as
child care which will assist them in reaching their study goals.