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USP cancels graduation in light of COVID-19 preventative measures on mass gatherings

USP has cancelled its graduation ceremony this week as a preventative measure to fight COVID-19. Picture: WANSOLWARA FILE By GERALDINE PANAPASA The University of the South Pacific has cancelled its upcoming graduation ceremony as a preventative measure to tackle the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). USP’s deputy vice-chancellor education Professor Jito Vanualailai said the unprecedented action had been taken to preserve greater health and safety of the public in light of the COVID-19 pandemic prevention measures on mass gatherings. The cancellation applied to the medals and prizes ceremony scheduled for tomorrow as well as the USP Graduation ceremony scheduled…

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Hosting Pacific Games hinders other development goals in the Solomon Islands

Identified sites for the Pacific Games along with the name of donors to fund the proposed facilities. Picture: SUPPLIED By BRIAN LEZUTUNI A Solomon Islands Government Minister says hosting the 2023 Pacific Games has had an impact on the plans of the government to pursue other development projects in the country. The country is in a race against time to ensure infrastructure and other preparatory works are completed on time and have sought the financial assistance of its development partners to ensure ground work begins. Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade Jeremiah Manele told Wansolwara that the Government’s focus was…

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Students’ commemorate nuclear victims

Two kids holding a poster with a powerfull message.  Picture: Epeli Lalagavesi/Wansolwara By REILEEN B. JOEL The Marshall Islands Students’ Association (MISA) on Tuesday (March 2) organised a march commemorating the 32nd Nuclear Victim’s Remembrance Day at The University of the South Pacific’s, Laucala campus. The march began at the USPSA Foyer along the main road to the Aus-Pac Lecture Theatre where a formal commemoration for victims and survivors of the nuclear testing was held. Marshall Islands was the site of a series of nuclear testing program carried out by the United States of American between 1946-1958 Through the effects…

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Journalism students urged to be peace-builders

Journalism students pose for a group photo with (sitting from left to right) Wansolwara supervising editor-in-chief Geraldine Panapasa, Dialogue Fiji executive director Nilesh Lal, USP Journalism coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh and USP Journalism teaching assistant Eliki Drugunalevu. Picture: Epeli Lalagavesi/Wansolwara By BEN BILUA Journalism students studying at The University of South Pacific's Laucala Campus have been urged to be peace-builders in the future. Executive Director of Dialogue Fiji Nilesh Lal said the media played a vital role in the development of peace process, enabling the underlying conflict in society to be expressed and argued through a non-violent manner. He told…

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NZ Prime Minister Ardern urges stronger Pacific voices

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (garland middle) with government representatives, and staff and students of USP. Picture: EPELI LALAGAVESI/WANSOLWARA By IAN CHUTE New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has encouraged staff and students of The University of the South Pacific (USP) to use their Pacific values and voices to eliminate the injustices of society. Ms Ardern made a four-day state visit to Fiji last week and used the occasion to deliver an awe-inspiring speech at USP’s Laucala campus on Wednesday February 26. She took a strong stand against discrimination and bullying, echoed the need to empower youth voices on the…

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Regionalism, a double-edged sword

Flags representing USP member countries in the region. Picture: SUPPLIED/DR GORDON NANAU By JARED KOLI PACIFIC regionalism is described as a double-edged sword used to carve the region while at the same time wounding its peoples. A doctoral researcher in Politics, Diplomacy and International Affairs at The University of the South Pacific’s (USP) School of Government, Development and International Affairs (SGDIA), George Hoa’au echoed this statement in an interview with Wansolwara. “The thing that we say will work for us is also not going to work for us, but we choose to – it’s a marriage of convenience between states,”…

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USP opens new $4.4m entrance

The new entrance linking Queen Elizabeth Drive to Moana Drive at The University of the South Pacific. Picture: SUPPLIED/SPAC By IAN CHUTE The University of the South Pacific achieved another milestone yesterday with the opening of the new $4.4 million entrance at Laucala campus in Suva yesterday. The new entrance, aptly named University Avenue, along linking Queen Elizabeth Drive to Moana Drive was opened by the Tongan Minister for Education and Training, Siaosi ‘Ofa Ki Vahafolau Sovaleni. The development project includes a new 300-metre concrete paved road, parking for 100 cars, footpaths, streetlights, stormwater drainage, security booth and landscape. Tongan…

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‘Love letter to my younger self’

A little girl reads Kaluti by local author Shazia Usman. Picture: SUPPLIED By EMI KOROITANOA An old proverb suggests that a pen is far mightier than a sword. For Shazia Usman, her new book comes with a mighty message for all Fijians — “Our first love should always be ourselves”. Usman had recently launched her first ever self-published novel, sharing that it was “a love letter to my younger self”. Kaluti entails the story about a 10-year-old girl from Suva called Zia who hears her Fua (paternal aunt) call her kaluti – a derogatory slang commonly used among South Asians,…

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$5m to upgrade USP facilities

An artist’s impression of the proposed Solomon Islands’ campus. The new campus is expected to be constructed opposite King George School in Honiara to cater for the growing number of students. Picture: USP SPAC By DIPESH KUMAR THE University of the South Pacific can expect improved facilities after Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Pal Ahluwalia confirmed at least $5 million would be invested in deferred maintenance works this year. During the USP Vice-Chancellor and President’s Forum on September 13 last year at Laucala campus, Prof Ahluwalia said deferred maintenance works and improving the state of some campuses and facilities topped the…

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Ethnic Relations in Fiji: threats and Opportunities

From left: USP Journalism Coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh, Dialogue Fiji chairman Nemani Buresova and executive director Nilesh Lal. Picture: Dialogue Fiji The University of the South Pacific Journalism Programme Coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh shares insights from the recently-launched book on ethnic relations. This is an extremely important book, and its title—Ethic Relations in Fiji: threats and Opportunities—indicates why. The chapters in the book book emanate from the proceedings of the 2017 Dialogue on Ethnic Relations at Pacific Harbour. They address what is perhaps the most crucial and costly issue facing Fiji—ethnic relations, or rather, ethnic tensions, suspicions, and even hostility, if…

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