Pre-Independence

The old University (UNTIM) was gutted in Sept 1999

A profile of the University (UNTIM) and the Polytechnic before the destruction of 1999.

The University - UNTIM

The Universitas Timor Timur (UNTIM) was a private university, the only university in East Timor. It was housed in a small complex of interlinked buildings opposite the Public Library in Dili. UNTIM’s Agriculture College was located in Hera, a small village in the hills six kilometres East of Dili.

There was no university under the Portuguese, who ruled East Timor until 1975. A handful of students studied in Portugal and later formed the core of the nationalist movement that emerged in the mid 1970s.

The establishment of the university in 1986, under Indonesian rule, was made possible through the efforts of Mario Viegas Carrascalao, a former Governor of East Timor, and the Loro Sae Foundation.

The University existed largely to train middle-level administrators, agricultural extension workers and secondary school teachers. It was not a research institution and critical and analytical thought was not encouraged. Professional courses such as architecture, law and medicine were not taught. The study of English was carefully controlled and international contacts discouraged. Only a tiny minority used computers. Indonesian history was taught, but little about other countries in the region.

Aid for tertiary education was largely for scholarships in East Timor and abroad, rather than improving overall teacher training or curriculum. Many students travelled abroad for their tertiary education, largely to Indonesia. There were problems of language and often undergraduates were unable to meet overseas entry requirements.

By 1998/99 UNTIM had nearly 4,000 students, with 73 permanent teaching staff, in three main faculties - Agriculture, Social & Political Sciences and Education & Teacher Training.

In 1995-98, at a time of escalating instability in East Timor and Indonesia, Georgetown University and USAID established the first international assistance project for UNTIM. The project involved developing staff teaching and management skills and improving curriculum. It established three new student resource centres (a teaching farm, an English-language centre and a biology lab) and acquired up-to-date books, teaching materials, and equipment for staff and students.

In April 1999 the Indonesian government effectively closed UNTIM in response to mass demonstrations demanding a referendum. Immediately following the announcement of the ballot by the UN, most students and the few Timorese lecturers returned to their villages to campaign for independence, while the Indonesian lecturers returned to their home islands.

The Polytechnic

Technical courses were based in a building in Becora, next to the Senior High School of Economics, and a campus in Hera, close to the University’s Agriculture College. The Polytechnic provided Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Civil Construction and Accountancy.

Significant funding came from abroad to upgrade facilities and resources.