New Vice-Chancellor expanding USP facilities [1]
Friday, March 24, 2006 - 15:47. Updated on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - 10:24.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific, Professor Anthony Tarr said in Nuku'alofa on Tuesday, March 21, that a plan to expand the USP Tonga Center was currently being discussed by USP and the government of Tonga.
He said that major expansion programs were also taking place at the USP Campus in Samoa and in Vanuatu.
Professor Tarr became the Vice Chancellor of USP in January 2005 and it was his first visit to Tonga in this capacity.
"During the first year it was a matter of restructuring the university," said Professor Tarr. "This is my second year and we are getting all our programs bench marked, and some are doing very well against those bench marks... I don't believe in second rate and there is no reason why things should be second rated."
New Faculties
Professor Tarr has appointed four Deans to head four new faculties which began operation on January 1, 2006, and he said that one of his top five senior advisers is Dr 'Ana Taufe'ulungaki of Tonga.
There are more than 900 Tongan students at the USP, the fifth largest group of students at the regional university.
Post graduate studies
Professor Tarr said that he would like to increase the capacity of the university for Post Graduate Studies, and that a 22% capacity is the standard for universities in developed countries.
Also on the drawing board is a plan by the Australian government to establish a regional vocational training institute. He said that negotiations were currently underway, and the USP was saying that they have got the regional structure and such an institute can be easily put into place.
On the initiative by individuals and some island government to have their own universities, Professor Tarr said that if there was strong financial backing then there would always be private universities.
Sports
The Vice Chancellor has introduced a Sports Scholarship scheme, including rugby, which started this year with 50 students.
Professor Tarr is a member of the board of the Fiji Rugby Union, and he would like the USP to have a strong rugby team. He said that it had been found that students who are into sports are also good in their academic work.