The United States Embassy’s Public Diplomacy and Peace Corps Tonga team visited The University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Tonga Campus recently to learn more about their educational services to students in Tonga.
U.S Embassy Public Affairs Officer, Stephanie Fitzmaurice met with Campus Director Dr Robin Havea and heard about the impact the pandemic had on the ways students attended class. She also toured the campus and got to see firsthand the efforts made into preserving the Tongan culture and language.
USP is a close working partner of the US Embassy Public Diplomacy Office in Suva and as such the purpose of the visit was to pay a courtesy call to the newly appointed Campus Director Dr Havea to re-establish USP’s working partnership since the Covid lockdown.
The Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman emphasised that the US Embassy would continue to work with USP and its regional campuses in Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu to bring U.S Government youth programmes and opportunities to interested youth across its five accredited countries.
Campus Director, Dr Robin Havea together with the staff, were pleased and more than happy to welcome the visiting US Embassy Suva entourage to the USP Tonga Campus.
Dr Havea said, “The visit is a testimony to the partnership and friendship USP and the U.S have been sharing in so many ways and on different levels in the past years”.
“These days we have online training and the U.S Embassy runs sessions from time to time and our staff and students benefit from them,” he added.
The USP Tonga Campus Director further highlighted, “There are countless opportunities in the U.S to which our students could explore should they wish to further their education there through scholarships and student-exchange programmes.”
Tonga and the U.S go back a long way so the U.S is a home away from home for a significant number of Tongans.
