I am delighted to welcome you all to the new academic year. For those of you who have travelled from far-away places, USP welcomes you into your new family. For our returning students, we hope you had an enjoyable break and are coming back with a heightened level of enthusiasm and passion to continue with your studies.

You all are central to this University and therefore we hold a firm moral and academic commitment towards your future. We are proud to be ranked amongst the top 50 universities in the Oceania and in the top 9% globally. Our aspiration is to move up the global rankings so that by the time you finish your degrees, your degree is even more valuable than it is today.

We will continue to invest in our efforts to enrich your creativity and enhance your critical thinking to enable you to embrace new ideas and values which will help find smart solutions to our regional and global issues. Your University lives should not only be focused on attaining degrees but on creating positive impacts in our societies and giving back to our Pacific peoples.  I strongly urge you to embrace Pacific values that drive our University and make sure that the time you spend here is enjoyable and fulfilling.

On behalf of the USP team, I wish you all a very prosperous year ahead.