450 students will go back to the beautiful campus of Faculty of Engineering to become the future engineers

Japanese funded project “Urgent Rehabilitation of Faculty of Engineering, National University of Timor-Leste” was recently completed and will be officially handed over to the Government of Timor-Leste at the Inauguration Ceremony to be held on 12 August 2003.

Duration of the project is 14 months including the feasibility study and the cost of the project is US$4.67 million. During the construction period, the project provided employment to local laborers equivalent to 14,455 work days.

Faculty of Engineering was largely damaged with the violence and vandalism in 1999 and was unable to provide education on campus in Hera. Based on the needs assessment conducted by JICA with the support of UNDP, Government of Japan decided to support the rehabilitation of Faculty of Engineering as one of the Emergency Grant Aids in partnership with UNDP/UNOPS.

This project was designed not only as an infrastructure project but also as a strategic intervention in the human resource sector through provision of equipment and tools with training. Hence, needs assessment and curriculum development were taken consideration at the initial stage.

With the completion of this project, 450 students for three departments, civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering, will be able to receive good education with good facilities and equipment in Hera campus from coming October. It is crucial for Timor-Leste to have increased number of skilled engineers to restore the country’s infrastructure in a sustainable manner. The rehabilitation of Faculty of Engineering will enable Timor-Leste to produce more talented engineers in future.

Details of Inauguration Ceremony are as follows:

DATE: Tuesday, 12 August 2003

TIME: 10:00 AM

VENUE: Faculty of Engineering, National University of Timor-Leste, Hera Campus

Expected participants:
H.E. President, H.E. Prime Minister, President of National Parliament, Ministers, UN Officials, Ambassadors, Government officials, University staff, and Students