UPNG graduates lead in government, business, law, medicine, science and civil society across Papua New Guinea, the Pacific and beyond. Stay connected, give back, and keep your place in the UPNG story.
Since 1965 the University of Papua New Guinea has taught the teachers, doctors, lawyers, scientists and public servants who built the nation. Graduating does not end that association — as an alumnus you remain part of the University community, and the University remains part of your professional life.
Whether you finished last summer or half a century ago, there is a place for you here: as a mentor to the students who follow you, as a donor to the funds that keep them in study, as a speaker in the lecture theatre you once sat in, or simply as a graduate who wants to know what the University is doing now.
The Alumni Association keeps graduates in touch with the University and with each other. Membership is open to every person who has completed a UPNG award, and there is no fee to join the register.
Registering takes a few minutes and means we can reach you about reunions, public lectures, graduation ceremonies, appeals and University news. Details are held by the University and are never sold or passed to third parties.
Every one of these takes less than an afternoon, and all of them make a measurable difference to a student at UPNG today.
Register your details — or update the ones we already hold — so you receive reunion invitations, University news and notice of alumni events near you.
Register your detailsGive a few hours a semester to a student in your discipline. Mentors advise on study, professional registration and the first years of a working career.
Volunteer as a mentorSupport scholarships, library resources and research. Gifts of any size are pooled into the funds below, and every kina is acquitted to the donor.
See giving prioritiesGraduation ceremonies, public lectures, school open days and class reunions run through the year on the Waigani and Taurama campuses.
Browse upcoming eventsReturn to your school as a guest lecturer, panel speaker or assessor of student work. Schools are always looking for practitioners with current field experience.
Offer to speakOffer internships, work placements or graduate positions to final-year students, and let us list your vacancies to the relevant school.
Recruit from UPNGAlumni giving pays for the things government funding does not stretch to: keeping a capable student in study, putting current texts on the library shelf, and getting PNG research into the field. Gifts can be one-off, regular, or left as a bequest — the giving page sets out the funds, the ways to give and what each gift achieves.
Gifts, pledges and bequests are handled by [email protected].
A few of the graduates featured by our schools. Each school keeps its own list of notable alumni — follow the school name to see the rest.
Class of 1970
Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (1999–2002)
UPNG's first economics graduate (Bachelor of Economics, 1970). Secretary for Finance through the independence years, then Managing Director of the PNG Banking Corporation and Governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea, before serving as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002.
School of Business and Public PolicyClass of 1970
4th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (1988–1992)
Bachelor of Arts in history and English, 1970, in UPNG's first graduating class, then a master's at Victoria in Canada. The first Papua New Guinean graduate appointed to the University's academic staff, and Prime Minister from 1988 to 1992. (1947–2023)
School of Humanities and Social SciencesClass of 1975
Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea (1993–2003)
Bachelor of Laws, 1975. Appointed Chief Justice at 40 — among the youngest ever to hold the office — and knighted the same year for service to the judiciary, law and justice. Later Member for Madang.
School of LawClass of 1973
PNG's first MBBS graduate and first cardiologist
The first Papua New Guinean to graduate MBBS from UPNG, in 1973, and the country's first cardiologist. Director of the Sir Buri Kidu Heart Institute and long-serving chairman of the council of the PNG Institute of Medical Research.
School of Medicine and Health SciencesChemist; pioneer of PNG natural-product research
Took his first degree at UPNG and a PhD in chemistry at the University of East Anglia at 27. A professor in this School whose plant collection work produced hopeaphenol, a compound from Anisoptera thurifera now studied as a candidate treatment for HIV and Covid-19.
School of Natural and Physical SciencesClass of 1993
Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (since 2019)
Bachelor of Arts (1993), postgraduate honours in environmental science (2000) and a Master of Business Administration, all taken at UPNG. Member for Tari-Pori since 2007 and Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea since May 2019.
School of Business and Public PolicyThe Alumni Office is the first point of contact for graduates — registration, transcripts and testamurs, reunion support, mentoring and giving. We would like to hear where your degree has taken you.