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 | Dr Jamil Salmi (left) with the Vice-Chancellor and President of USP, Professor Rajesh Chandra. |
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The University of the South Pacific is undergoing changes to achieve academic excellence in the coming years. This journey to excellence is guided by the University’s new Strategic Plan 2013-2018.
Under the new Plan, USP will strengthen learning, teaching, and research and focus on its people, quality, regional campuses development, postgraduate studies, global leadership in areas such as Pacific Arts, Climate Change, and Oceans, entrepreneurialism, as well as being a regional exemplar in order to achieve excellence by 2018 - which is the University’s 50th anniversary.
These transformations at the region’s premier institution of higher learning are catching international attention.
Recently an online article titled “The race for excellence - a marathon not a sprint” published by the University World News highlighted that the “University of the South Pacific’s Vice-Chancellor has been leading strategic change under the banner of ‘good is not good enough’.”
This article was authored by Dr Jamil Salmi, a leading global tertiary education expert and former World Bank Tertiary Education Coordinator.
The article discusses the chances of a university being among the best in the world, if it does not have hundreds of years of experience.
In his article, Dr Salmi writes that as is the case with good wines, academic excellence requires a wealth of expertise, care and a long maturity period, but admits that this notion has been challenged recently on several counts.
He points out that being an old university is no guarantee of academic excellence.
The article makes reference to the trajectory of the universities analysed in The Road to Academic Excellence publication suggesting that it may be easier to reach world-class status by establishing a new institution than by attempting to upgrade an existing one.
Dr Salmi reports that there is a growing belief that with proper leadership and investment, existing universities can be drastically transformed into world-class institutions, over a relatively short period.
The article provides examples of new institutions that have achieved pre-eminence in the space of a few decades and outlines the reasons for their success.
“While not impossible, creating a top university – through upgrading – poses, however, greater challenges than developing a new institution from scratch,” Dr Salmi said in his article.
This, he explains, is because it is more challenging to create a culture of excellence where one did not previously flourish.
In either case, Dr Salmi is confident that building excellence remains a long-term endeavour, requiring measured approaches for sustainability.
He advises that a university on the path to academic excellence should stay the course and keep the long view at all times.
Dr Salmi’s who visited USP in 2012, delivered a public lecture on the challenges facing tertiary education in the 21st century during his time in Suva.
His article can be viewed on: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130108161422529
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