Over 1,600 students were recognized for their achievements as they graduated yesterday and today during The University of the South Pacific (USP) Laucala Campus Graduation held at the Vodafone Arena in Suva, Fiji.
On Thursday, April 11, 2024, 611 students graduated from the School of Business and Management (SBM), School of Agriculture, Geography, Environment, Oceans & Natural Sciences (SAGEONS), School of Information Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Physics (STEMP) in the morning while 318 students from the Pacific Technical and Further Education (PTAFE) graduated in the afternoon session.
Yesterday, 768 students received their qualifications, of which 223 graduated from the School of Pacific Arts, Communication and Education (SPACE), 14 from the Pacific Centre for Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD), 332 from the School of Accounting, Finance and Economics (SAFE) and 199 students from the School of Law & Social Sciences (SoLaSS).
Addressing the 1,697 graduates, USP Vice-Chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia congratulated the students and added,
Graduation signifies the culmination of several years of hard work on your part. Today is a celebration of your efforts and a time for us to thank the academic and professional staff who have lectured, tutored, encouraged, supported, and given you the building blocks to face the world beyond the university campus.
Professor Ahluwalia stressed, as USP graduates,
You will have to play a leading role in the social and economic transformation for a resilient region that requires an agile, highly productive knowledge economy led by appropriately skilled people.
Our top 10% Times Higher Education global ranking has demonstrated that we continue to punch above our weight compared to the more than twenty thousand universities across the globe.
Professor Ahluwalia
The university also acknowledged that of the 1,697 graduates, 62% are female, boosting the institution’s reputation of women empowerment, having produced higher female-to-male graduate ratios in several years.
On March 8, 2024, the university celebrated International Women’s Day and announced the sponsorship, financed by the Vice-Chancellor’s Strategic Funds, of women academics who are on the threshold of academic promotion to focus on their research and publications.
The initiative is aligned with this year’s IWD theme, “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”, and aims to encourage and hasten women’s progress at the university through academic ranks.
As graduates of the USP, students were encouraged to advocate and become innovators for the region, equipped to make a contribution and difference to the lives of people in the Pacific communities.
This graduation also saw 186 students graduate with their Master’s, and seven received their PhD.
Among the Pacific students who graduated during the two-day event were international students from Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka, signifying the global reach and standard of the region’s premier institute.