Vice Chancellor’s Address, Graduation Ceremony April 4th 2025

In a world that feels very volatile, with conflicts, radically transformed international relations policies which have impacted the global economy, and ecological and climate crises in small islands, the University of Fiji aims to provide stability, with its highly educated and well-informed graduates entering the job market yearly. The University’s graduates are not only well-qualified, they are also trained to be advocates for their communities and for the nation as a whole.

This was the message delivered by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Fiji, Professor Shaista Shameem, as 283 graduands were awarded their certificates, diplomas and degrees by the University’s Pro-Chancellor Pundit Bhuwan Dutt at its Saweni Campus today.

Professor Shameem said that the reason for the high success rate of the University’s graduates in the employment market was because that its curriculum was based on the human values approach to education. This was the system proposed by the Founders of the University, the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, when they established an educational spectrum from early childhood to tertiary institution which promoted holistic education as the best solution for national and global problems.

Professor Shameem said that the University was proud to be an independent institution, with academic freedom protected in the University of Fiji Act. Its students not only earned the best qualifications, they also graduated with the attributes of independence, courage, integrity, ethics, compassion and kindness towards others. The University’s graduates possessed both emotional intelligence and paper qualifications, she said.

Professor Shameem said that the University’s sphere of influence was far-reaching with an exponential effect on developments in Fiji and the region as its graduates became employed in a variety of leadership roles. The combination of the ancient Indian education methodology of gurukul, combined with the Drua Voyage perspective, gave the University its edge in the tertiary education space and the job market in Fiji and globally, she said.

The University of Fiji’s graduates were head-hunted for top jobs as it had obtained international accreditation in all its programmes through the Quality Assurance Agency (Global) benchmarks, in compliance with the European Standards and Guidelines in higher education.

Referring to the proposed reform of Fiji’s Education Act, Professor Shameem said that the University’s view on education was that it could not be offered in silos or compartments but should be constructed as a life-long learning process. She said the University was thankful that this opinion was shared by the Education Ministry with the University playing an active part in providing transformative curriculum reviews when requested.

The value-added contribution of the University to nation-building was that its graduates were qualified as required in all the traditional subjects and, simultaneously, well-versed in the human values approach to work and life that the University represented, Professor Shameem said.