Engineering Scholarship sets career pathway for Ellyard

ELLYARD Koreari is one of our success stories under a Mechanical Engineering Scholarship offered at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology in 2011. After a 10-year break, Pacific Oil Management Limited has revived this scholarship in honour of the country’s first national Mechanical Engineering lecturer and former Head of Department late Professor John Pumwa as the John Pumwa Engineering Scholarship. Ellyard was offered a similar scholarship in 2011 when he was doing his final year of studies to attain a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering.

He says the scholarship then provides him with the opportunity to work with his former employer Islands Petroleum during the Christmas period to gain experience with the actual work engagement where he had the opportunity to learn from senior engineers. “For a kid without any or zero experience, this is mind blowing when you translate the theory aspect of what you learn to physical work. All in all, it gives the opportunity to gain that minimum level of experience of life after school and what typical conditions it would be like,” Ellyard said. Ellyard said the scholarship has also allowed him to remain focussed on his studies with all the resources component provided from the package and was a great relief for his parents financially.

“Probably one of the many reasons I graduated with Merit.”

In honouring the late Professor John Pumwa who has educated a good number of engineering experts in the country, Ellyard says that the late professor was a very humbled and knowledgeable person to not only his students but everyone he meets with a smile.

“One of his very personal goals is to see that his students succeeded in studies and careers after school, and this has resulted in him keeping in touch each student after school.

“I had a personal experience of us exchanging emails and chats in LinkedIn 5 years after graduating, just to see if I’m doing okay”, Ellyard said.

In school, Professor John Pumwa thought a couple of enrichment courses, one of which is ME 403 Engineering Ethics. Not so technical but plays a very key vital role in every student placing in the industry of how they conduct themselves professionally,” Ellyard stated. Ellyard is now the operations manager for Pacific Oil Management Limited.

Papua New Guineans are naturally intelligent and can excel in life despite their background

-Prof John Pumwa