New university not yet accredited by TNQAB [1]
Friday, February 19, 2016 - 16:14
A proposed new university for Tonga’s capital - reportedly inaugurated by Prime Minister, ‘Akilisi Pohiva in February, has not been properly assessed and accredited.
An article in the Times of India on 11 February, reported that the “Commonwealth Vocational University”, was formally inaugurated by Tonga’s Prime Minister, Akilisi Pohiva on 6 February 2016, with the Minister of Police, Pohiva Tuionetoa and Minister of Health, Siosaia Piukala in attendance.
The Prime Minister’s Office in Nuku’alofa today confirmed that the PM had attended the event held at the Scenic Hotel, Fua’amotu.
TNQAB
However, Pauline Moa, Acting CEO at the Tonga National Qualification Accreditation Board (TNQAB) confirmed to Matangi Tonga today that, to date, no request had been received by the proposed university to be assessed and evaluated to see if it meets Tonga’s higher education standards.
“Anyone who wants to start an education facility can ask the Minister [of Education] for approval and then they need to apply to the TNQAB to be assessed,” she said.
She confirmed that enquiries had been made by the group from India last year, to find out the requirements, but they had not contacted TNQAB since then.
Poona College
The Times of India reported that the “Commonwealth Vocational University” was started by Dr Anwar Shaikh, a former principal of Poona College of Arts, Science and Commerce in India. The idea came about when two Tongan students, Keasi and Foueti Motuhifonua, attending Poona College mentioned to Dr Shaikh that Tonga lacked higher education facilities and many Tongans had to pursue further education overseas. This led to the students returning to Tonga to start the process of setting up the university.
According to the article, Dr Shaikh and his associates presented a proposal to the Tongan Government and received a Certificate of Incorporation to start the university on 20 August, 2014.
Dr Shaikh told the Times of India that the Tongan Government would like to increase the number of IT related courses such as Bachelor of Computer Science and Bachelor of Computer Application among others. “We will bring in faculty for commerce, management, IT and computer science in April,” Dr Shaikh told the newspaper.