Remarks by the Pro Chancellor and Chair of Council - September 2025 Laucala Graduation

 

Remarks by the Pro Chancellor and Chair of Council
Mr Siosiua Utoikamanu
September 2025 Laucala Graduation Day 1
Thursday, 4th September 2025
Vodafone Arena, Suva, Fiji

Salutations:

  • Your Majesty King Tupou VI, King of Tonga and Chancellor of The University of the South Pacific
  • Your Majesty Queen Nanasipauʻu of the Kingdom of Tonga
  • Your Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps
  • Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji, Honourable Sitiveni Rabuka and Mrs Rabuka
  • Honourable Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament
  • Members of the Judiciary
  • Council and Senate members
  • Development Partners, Sponsors, Distinguished Guests
  • Staff
  • Students
  • And most especially – Our graduates, your families and friends

Mālō e lelei and warm Pacific greetings to you all.

Graduation is a time of celebration – a deeply earned, deeply felt milestone.
To our graduates: we salute you.

You’ve reached this point through hard work, determination, and the steady support of those around you. So today, we honour not only your individual achievement, but also the collective strength of your families and villages, your wider communities, and all who stood beside you along the way.

Like everything in our Pacific, our celebrations are shared – just as we share values, responsibilities, dreams, and aspirations.

This particular graduation is made even more meaningful by a rare and powerful alignment.

We find ourselves at a moment of institutional transition – a reset for the University that was itself built nearly 60 years ago on the foundation of sharing. The USP Council has signalled a deliberate new chapter: not one of looking back, but of reimagining and reshaping the path ahead.

And in this very moment of renewal – Your Majesties, you are with us and for this we are truly grateful.

There is deep symbolism – perhaps even divine serendipity – in the fact that this reset is being presided over by His Majesty King Tupou VI, our new Chancellor, whose father, the late King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, was USP’s very first Chancellor.

What a full circle we have come – from the dreams of a founding monarch and now a direct line to our new Chancellor – at the very moment in our history when we need to recalibrate and reset our direction.

I would also like to acknowledge the presence of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji, Honourable Sitiveni Rabuka, and Mrs Rabuka. Thank you for joining us at this important moment for the University and our graduates, their families, and indeed for your own granddaughter and extended family.

The presence of royalty and senior Pacific leadership reminds us that this University was not born of policy papers or strategy documents alone. It was born of Pacific vision and far-reaching foresight, of noble legacy, and of deep belief in what education can achieve for our region. It was born of a covenant to share the responsibilities and the returns of regional higher education – together.

To guide our journey forward, the Council has adopted the USP Investment Plan 2025–2027 – a compass for the journey ahead.

It is more than a strategy. It charts a course toward a more student-centred, digitally empowered, regionally cohesive, and financially resilient USP.

And it asks us to do more than adjust. It calls us to transform.

Like all good way finders, we do not rely on a single star. We draw on ancestral wisdom, regional realities, and emerging opportunities to guide us. We look to all our navigators: staff, students, monarchs, governments, leaders, partners – and now, all of you, our newest graduates.

Our Class of 2025 – you join our illustrious and proud alumni community of close to 70,000.

You are stepping into a Pacific region of extraordinary complexity – the climate crisis, fragile economies, the challenges of health and education, and rapid social and cultural change. But you are also stepping into a time of extraordinary possibility and opportunity.

Your generation will shape how the Pacific survives and thrives in the decades ahead. You will make meaning of your learning.

Whether you return home, move abroad, enter government, teach, heal, advocate, or create – remember this: your learning is most powerful when it serves others. And your success will be most profound when it is shared.

You carry more than a degree or diploma from USP. You carry the aspirations of a region – and the dreams of those who came before you.

So today, as we honour your achievement, we also honour the sacred timing of this moment: the dawn of a new strategic direction, a transition in leadership, and the presence of royalty and regional leaders – all converging as we celebrate your journey.

On behalf of the Council and the entire USP community – we thank your families and supporters, and we invite you to go forward with courage, wisdom, and generosity.

Our Ocean of Peace awaits you.

Mālō ʻaupito. Vinaka vakalevu. And warmest congratulations!

 

Graduation Address by the Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council
Mr Siosiua Utoikamanu
September 2025 Laucala Graduation Day 2
Friday, 5th September 2025
Vodafone Arena, Suva, Fiji

 Salutations

  • Your Majesty King Tupou VI, King of Tonga and Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific
  • Your Majesty, Queen Her Majesty Queen Nanasipau’u of the Kingdom of Tonga
  • Your Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps
  • Members of the Judiciary
  • Council and Senate members
  • Development Partners, Sponsors, Distinguished guests
  • Staff
  • Students
  • And above all – our graduates, your families, and those who’ve walked with you on this journey

Mālō e lelei and warm Pacific greetings.

Graduation is always a moment of deep significance – but today’s occasion carries an even richer meaning.

To each of you graduating today: we offer our heartfelt congratulations. Your achievements reflect not only your own determination and discipline, but also the strength of your families, communities, and cultures that have supported you every step of the way.

To all the parents, caregivers, siblings, sponsors, and friends who are here today – we thank you. You were the ones who gave encouragement in the late nights, comfort in the hard times, and celebration in the good. Your quiet sacrifices and steadfast belief helped bring this moment to life.

This ceremony also marks an important moment for the University itself. Council has now signalled a reset – not merely a change of leadership, but an intentional turning of the page.

We do not mark this transition with hesitation, but with clarity and purpose. The University stands at a pivotal moment – one that calls for transformation, not just redirection. A time to reflect on the journey so far, but more importantly, to reimagine the road ahead.

And how fitting it is that this moment of institutional renewal is being presided over by Your Majesties.

There is a profound sense of symmetry and grace in this: that King Tupou VI, our current Chancellor, should stand here nearly six decades after his father, the late King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, became the University’s very first Chancellor.

This moment is not only symbolic – it is powerful. It reminds us that USP was born out of Pacific leadership, regional unity, and a shared belief in the transformative power of education. That legacy continues today.

But we are not simply resetting – we are resetting with purpose. Council has endorsed a bold and forward-looking Investment Plan for 2025 to 2027.

This plan does more than outline priorities. It charts a course – grounded in reality, but guided by aspiration. It calls us to be more student-centred, more digitally capable, more connected across our region, and more financially resilient.

Like the great Pacific wayfinders, we are drawing on many sources of guidance: ancestral wisdom, contemporary knowledge, and lived regional realities. Our our compass and direction will be guided by many: students, staff, partners, and our 12 member countries.

This is shared leadership, responsibility and accountability for generations to come, so that in 60 years from now, we too will be remembered as great ancestors who were responsible custodians of this institution.

To our graduates – you leave today not just with a degree, but with something greater: a responsibility.

You are entering a Pacific that is both challenged and full of promise. Climate change, economic fragility, and social disruption are real and urgent. But so too is the potential – for innovation, leadership, healing, and change.

Whether you go on to teach, to govern, to innovate, or to serve – your journey will matter. You carry with you not just the hopes of your family, but the dreams of your islands, your nations, your region.

Your learning will find its fullest expression not in your job title, but in your enduring impact.

So today, as we celebrate your success, we also affirm our collective direction. The University is resetting – and we are resetting with clarity.

We thank Your Majesties for your presence and your lineage, which give this moment such resonance. It is a reminder that education in the Pacific is not merely about skills and knowledge – it is about legacy, leadership, and unity.

To our graduates: we honour you. We believe in you. And we welcome you into the proud ranks of USP alumni – over 60,000 strong, making their mark across the region and beyond.

Your journey is only beginning. And our great Ocean is wide with possibilities.

Mālō ‘aupito, vinaka vakalevu, and every blessing for the voyage ahead.