USP regional campus staff prepare for Success@USP orientation programme for 2009

Participants at the Success@USP facilitator’s
workshop held at the Laucala Campus

Much has been said about the Success@USP orientation programme and it becoming a major event in the USP regional campus calendar. In preparation for its implementation and delivery, over 50 regional campus staff were trained to facilitate the orientation programme.

With the cooperation and assistance of the respective Campus Directors the workshops took place in three USP regional campuses, namely Tonga, Solomon Islands and Laucala Campus in Fiji. It was an opportune time for regional campus staff to not only go through the whole facilitation process but also meet colleagues from the other campuses.  

The Tonga Campus was first to kick-off the training workshops from the 12-16 January, and was facilitated by Louise Vakamocea (CFDL) and Emily Moala-Pouvalu (CFS). There were eight participants from Tonga Campus and its Vava’u and Ha’apai USP Centres. Our Samoan and Tokelauan colleagues were to have attended the Tongan workshop but Air New Zealand no longer had flights between Tonga and Samoa.

Solomon Islands and Laucala Campus hosted the remaining workshops from 19-23 January. In the Solomon Islands there were over ten participants from Vanuatu, Nauru and the Solomons. Eileen Tuimaleali’ifano (CFDL) and Helen Tamtam (CFDL) facilitated the workshop over the five day period.

With the poor weather and flooding around Fiji, it was uncertain whether the workshop at Laucala would take place. With our participants already making their way to Fiji there was no stopping this workshop. The weather turned out well and we had the privilege of the Vice Chancellor of USP Professor Rajesh Chandra opening the Laucala workshop, which added more importance to the Success@USP orientation programme. The facilitation for the workshop was done by Louise Vakamocea (CFDL) and Irene Tafaaki (USP Marshall Islands Campus).

The workshops ended well and it could be said that there is a renewed dedication to serving our DFL students in the region with such a holistic program. The orientation programmes will commence at different campuses soon before or during the first couple of weeks in Semester 1, 2009.