University’s consultation with Australia and New Zealand
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 | The Vice-Chancellor and President of USP, Professor Rajesh Chandra gives his remarks at the high-level consultation meeting. Beside him, is the Director of Development, Marketing, Communications and Alumni, Mr Jaindra Karan. |
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A tripartite consultation meeting between the University of the South Pacific and its development partners, Australia and New Zealand, was held at the University on 20 March, 2013.
The tripartite meeting, which was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor and President of USP, Professor Rajesh Chandra, was hosted by the University at the Japan-Pacific ICT Centre located at the Laucala Campus in Suva.
The high-level consultation meeting, held twice a year, is of importance to the University as both Australia and New Zealand provide support and assistance towards USP’s core budget as well as for the implementation of the Strategic Plan.
The objectives of the meeting were to discuss with Australia and New Zealand on the following:
· Successful implementation of the Strategic Plan 2010-2012;
· Implementation of the new Strategic Plan 2013-2018;
· Progress on the implementation of projects/programmes funded through assistance from the Government of Australia; and
· Future programme funding by the Government of Australia.
In his opening remarks, the Vice-Chancellor and President of USP, Professor Rajesh Chandra, welcomed the representatives from both sides to the first high-level consultation of the year.
The governments of Australia and New Zealand were also acknowledged for their continued support towards the University by Professor Chandra. He acknowledged that the University’s partnership with Australia and New Zealand, which had strengthened over time, were at the core of USP’s activities.
The consultation, as explained by the Vice-Chancellor, provided an opportunity to talk about the progress made by the University in working collaboratively with Australia and New Zealand. He expressed his gratitude for the opportunity provided to USP to work closely with both partners in the development of its new six-year Strategic Plan.
During the meeting, the Minister-Counsellor for the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), John Davidson, stated that the Australian Government was pleased to have signed the partnership extension with the University last year, under which Australia provided AUD14m for the initial year of implementation of the new Strategic Plan.
While the Pacific Plan is under review, Davidson said, it was opportune to think about regionalism, highlighting the fact that USP, as a provider of tertiary education services, was a classic example of a regional public good.
The Minister-Counsellor stated that AusAID was working on the ‘Gender Initiative for Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development’ and also on the Pacific Tertiary Education Strategy. The implementation of this Strategy is expected to begin with skilling youths in the Pacific component which would look at providing pathways to school leavers leading to tertiary studies in high level demand areas of engineering, construction, maritime transport, education and health work force.
Another important programme supported by AusAID, highlighted by Davidson, is in the area of inclusive development for people with disability.
Sharing his views, the Acting Head of Mission, New Zealand, Peter Lund, said that New Zealand was pleased with the changes that have taken place at USP for the past three years, and in particular, that the support provided by his Government had enabled improvements in the area of Governance and Management at the University.
He said that New Zealand will be focusing on the results of effective and efficient delivery of services, USP’s effective collaborations with others including academic institutions and CROP agencies as well as ensuring that the University follows good practices during the implementation of the new Strategic Plan.
More specifically, he added, this monitoring will be focused on USP’s performance with respect to cross-cutting issues such as gender, environment, human rights including disability as well as indicators included in the funding arrangement.
Lund emphasised that New Zealand’s ongoing partnership was evidence of their confidence in USP, as a result of which the total funding had been increased by NZ $1m to NZ $15m over a three year period.
According to him, USP is only one of the three Pacific regional organisations that New Zealand provides multi-year funding to and is seen as one of the best examples of regional cooperation.
Both representatives from Australia and New Zealand congratulated the Vice Chancellor and his staff on the achievements of the Strategic Plan 2010-2012. Both sides expressed their confidence in USP and look forward to working with the University in the future, especially on key components of the new Strategic Plan.
A number of reports were presented and also discussed at the meeting. The next high-level consultation is expected to be held in the later half of the year.
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