The Acting Vice Chancellor of USP, Dr Giulio Masasso Tu'ikolongahau Paunga has returned to Tonga and will be based at the Tonga Campus of the University of the South Pacific for a while.

Dr Robin Havea, the Campus Director of the Tonga USP Campus, this week welcomed the appointment of Dr Paunga, stating: “we are very pleased that for the first time, we have an Acting Vice chancellor working from our USP Tonga Campus.”

From 12-13 January, 2023, they were visiting USP facilities at the Ha‘apai and Vava‘u.

Dr Paunga was a Tongan Cabinet Minister before he joined the staff of the USP in Fiji, where he is also the Deputy Vice Chancellor Regional Campuses and Global Engagements.

Travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic have kept him away from home.

Dr Havea said, “It was like a homecoming for Dr Paunga, and we are also proud of his achievements within USP,”

They visited the Prime Minister Hon. Hu’akavameiliku, “to show the partnership and collaboration between USP and the government of Tonga.”

USP is partially owned by the government of Tonga.

The Prime Minister expressed his continued support towards the regional university.