From left: Head of Training at FNU’s Department of Productivity and Quality Amrish Narayan, Director NTPC Dr Isimeli Tagicakiverata, FNU PVC L&T Prof James Pounder and Director EQAP Dr Michelle Belisle at the accreditation award ceremony today.

Fiji National University’s (FNU) National Training and Productivity Centre (NTPC) has been awarded the accreditation certificate for its micro-qualification: ‘Plan and manage projects at the workplace’ by The Pacific Community’s (SPC) Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP).

The accreditation has been approved at Level 5 of the Pacific Qualification Framework (PQF) by The Pacific Board for Educational Quality (PBEQ).

‘Plan and manage projects at the workplace’ is a programme designed for people who are already in the workforce and need to upgrade or reskill themselves. It provides further pathways for participants of this programme without any qualifications to enrol into Diploma in Project Management, then continue to Postgraduate level of studies in the same field.

According to FNU’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor Learning and Teaching, Professor James Pounder, this is a milestone achievement for NTPC, which over the years, has proven to be an appropriate vehicle for responding to industry requests and enabling the country to meet the needs for upskilling the workforce.

Professor Pounder said with the accreditation of NTPC’s micro-qualifications, the University will be able to offer the programmes regionally.

“The beauty of getting accreditation with EQAP is that we can franchise our courses, meaning we are not just confined to Fiji.”

“The University recently offered a free online course through its FNU Online platform. We can offer the micro-qualifications using the same platform – so these courses can either be face-to-face or online for those who want to pursue the programmes from anywhere in the South Pacific.”

Professor Pounder said the University is looking forward to continue working with EQAP to get more micro-qualifications accredited.

Director EQAP, Dr Michelle Belisle highlighted that regional accreditation of a micro-qualification represents the successful completion of a thorough quality assurance process, allowing prospective students the confidence to know where the micro-qualification sits on the regional qualifications framework and that it will be widely recognised because it meets a well-defined set of quality standards.

The 2019 Agreement between FNU and SPC provides a platform for the formal recognition of short courses or skill sets as micro-qualifications, allowing students who successfully complete the course to have official recognition of their skills and knowledge.

“That recognition, in turn, supports individuals as they increase their skills and leads to opening doors for further employment and advancement in their chosen areas of work. The recognition also provides a platform for trainees to get recognition of their skills and to qualify for future study opportunities in their pursuit of higher-level qualifications,” said Dr Belisle.