On Wednesday, April 6, 2020, The University of the South Pacific hosted His Excellency Roi Rosenblit, Ambassador-designate to Fiji, for a meeting to discuss further collaboration.
Ambassador Rosenblit was welcomed to the Laucala Campus by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Regional Campuses and Global Engagement) Dr Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Pāunga; Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor and President Education, Professor Jito Vanualailai; Acting Head of School of Accounting, Finance and Economics (SAFE), Dr Nacanieli Rika; Head of School of Information, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Physics (STEMP), Professor Maurizio Cirrincione and Head of School of Agriculture, Geography, Environment, Ocean & Natural Sciences (SAGEONS), Professor Surendra Prasad.
The University’s Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Pal Ahluwalia and Discipline of Agriculture and Food Technology Coordinator, Dr Siaka Diarra, joined the meeting virtually.
Ambassador Rosenblit was briefed on the University’s Strategic Plan and its commitment to enhancing the student learning experience and mobility and the student internship “Learning by Doing” programme between USP’s agriculture students and the Israeli government that was initiated in 2019 and paused due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
The team also discussed future collaboration between the University and the Israeli government on staff capacity building, scholarly lectures, and research collaboration.
Professor Ahluwalia relayed to Ambassador Rosenblit the University’s intentions to expand in the areas of science and technology, specifically artificial intelligence.
“Israel is leading the world with regards to the development of artificial intelligence and the University is interested to learn from non-other than the best in this field.”
He added that USP would welcome opportunities to collaborate with Israeli Universities on this.
Professor Ahluwalia also hinted at having Israeli scholars from the Weizmann Institute of Science and other renowned universities in Israel over to the University to hold lectures. This, he said, would greatly benefit USP academics, staff, and students from across the region.
Ambassador Rosenblit said he was pleased to have visited the campus and was impressed with the work and the impact the University was making across the region.
Both parties planned to discuss further and look at ways to make specific ideas put forward during the meeting.
