Chancellor visits the Solomon Islands for USP Graduation
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 | USP Chancellor, His Majesty King Tupou VI of Tonga arrives at the Solomon Islands graduation ceremony accompanied by Pro Chancellor and Chair of USP Council, Mr Ikbal Jannif |
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USP’s 20th Chancellor, His Majesty King Tupou VI of Tonga conferred certificates, diplomas and degrees to 146 students who graduated at the University of the South Pacific’s Solomon Islands Campus graduation ceremony held on the 13 September, 2013.
The graduation ceremony coincided with His Majesty’s inaugural visit to USP’s Solomon Island campus, since being installed as USP Chancellor in July, 2013. The visit which took place over a week also included a tour of the USP Solomon Island campus and its facilities, traditional presentations by the Tongan community in Honiara, and meeting with staff and key stakeholders of the University community based in the Solomon Islands. These included the Deputy Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Manasseh Maelanga, various members of the diplomatic corps and the Solomon Island government.
Accompanying his Majesty on his visit to the Solomon Islands were Her Majesty, Queen Nanasipau’u, USP Pro Chancellor and Chair of Council, Mr Ikbal Jannif, and the Acting Vice Chancellor at the time, Dr Esther Williams.
Dr Williams touched on the significance of His Majesty’s appointment as USP’s 20th Chancellor, following in the footsteps of other distinguished persons from across the region, “The appointment and installation (of His Majesty) truly demonstrates the regional character of the University of the South Pacific and its importance to all its Member Countries, large and small. Two years ago, we had H.E. the Governor General of Solomon Islands, Sir Frank Ofagioro Kabui, serving as our Chancellor with much dedication during his term.”
In acknowledging the achievements of the students who had graduated, Dr Williams highlighted the fact that 40% of graduates were females. This is in line with an increasing trend of female graduates of the University in recent graduation ceremonies, and a positive achievement under its current Strategic Plan 2013-2018.
Dr Williams touched on the University’s objective to increase its enrolment of students at postgraduate level, saying “One of the objectives of our Strategic Plan is to boost our Postgraduate numbers and no doubt having cohort studies locally and allowing students to do postgraduate studies while working and in country is one way of achieving this goal.” This is evident in recent achievements including postgraduate studies such as the MBA cohort being offered for the first time in 2010 in the Solomon Islands. She also noted that although 92% of graduates at this year’s ceremony were undergraduate students, the percentage of postgraduate students is steadily increasing with 45 students enrolled in the MBA cohort in 2013. Dr Williams also acknowledged the high percentage of students enrolled in Foundation studies, those having completed Foundation studies in the last semester alone numbering 168.
Dr Williams also acknowledged the significance of the Solomon Islands as an important member of the University of the South Pacific, “As stated earlier, the Solomon Islands is our second largest member in terms of student numbers and is an important member of USP.”
In line with the University’s Strategic Plan 2013-2018, to further develop its regional campuses, USP has embarked on its plans to build a new campus at NDoma, made possible by a gift of 150 hectares of land from the Solomon Islands Government and Provincial Government of Guadalcanal. Dr Williams said that building would commence in July 2014 and noted that the “The new campus will have lecture and tutorial rooms, meeting rooms, student study spaces, student accommodation and staff housing and state of the art computer and science labs.”
Amongst other exciting achievements, are the University’s commitment to raising the quality of their academic programmes, including the recognition of various pathways for various members of its Pacific community into degree programmes, and ensuring that the bulk of USP’s programmes received appropriate accreditation.
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