(From left) College Teaching Excellence Award recipient Dr Hirdesh Sachan of CAFF, Raymond Keshwan of CMNHS, PVC L&T Professor James Pounder, Dr Ravita Prasad of CEST, Dr Rohit Kishore of CBHTS and Bhagwanji Bhindi of CHE.

Five distinguished academics at Fiji National University (FNU) have been rewarded with Teaching Excellence Awards following their outstanding performance in academia.

There was a winner from each FNU College for the inaugural College Teaching Excellence Award and the overall winner received the FNU Teacher of the Year award.

The College Teaching Excellence Award recipients include Dr Ravita Prasad of College of Engineering, Science and Technology (CEST), Raymond Keshwan of College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (CMNHS), Dr Hirdesh Sachan of College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (CAFF), Bhagwanji Bhindi of College of Humanities and Education (CHE) and Dr Rohit Kishore of College of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies (CBHTS), who also won the FNU Teacher of the Year award.

While presenting the awards, FNU Pro-Vice-Chancellor Learning and Teaching, Professor James Pounder congratulated the recipients and revealed that the University is planning to hold these teaching excellence awards celebrations on a biennial basis.

Professor Pounder said this is to establish a cohort of teaching excellence award and certificate of merit recipients who will then form a mentoring team that will provide support and assistance to faculty new to the University and Fiji and existing faculty in need of help with their teaching.

The senior academic believes that excellent teaching changes lives and that the teacher should look to speak words of encouragement to students and not words of condemnation.

“The second thing I have realised is that teachers are viewed by their students as role models,” said Prof Pounder.

“In a volatile and uncertain world which has been made even more uncertain with the advent of the Coronavirus pandemic, young people more than ever need role models that display the ethical behaviour that is grounded moral values.”

“It is in this context, that we are celebrating the recipients of the FNU teaching excellence awards. These are the teachers that are modelling the way for their students and have a way of communicating that encourages them to realise their academic potential.”

Professor Pounder added that aside from their character and communications skills, the recipients here today are just plain good teachers who are constantly looking to hone their skills and techniques.

CBHTS Teaching Excellence Award and the FNU Teacher of the Year award winner, Dr Rohit Kishore hailed the awards as encouraging and motivating for academics to continue striving for excellence in their specialist areas.

“Such awards recognise our contribution to the respective fields and gives us an extra push to perform even better,” said Dr Kishore.

The senior academic highlighted that the challenge in the teaching profession is ever-increasing nowadays.

“With this pandemic around, which is not the first and not the last – meaning it’s going to stay, we are not only required to be familiar with our specialist knowledge area but we are required to know the changing pedagogies of learning and teaching as well.”

Dr Kishore challenged FNU academics to act as motivators for their students and to have the desire to witness their students prosper in their chosen fields.

“You must have a passion for teaching together with love and affection for your students.”

“Teachers must know how to inspire their students, how to attract their attention and how to make them interact with you as you learn together,” Dr Kishore added.