TVET students at FNU’s College of Engineering, Science and Technology.
The Fiji National University (FNU) is a proud dual sector University. We recognise that excellent Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is as important as excellent Higher Education for the future success of Fiji and other Pacific island nations. Indeed, around the world, TVET is recognised as critical to the post-pandemic economic recovery.
Quality education
From short courses and trade diplomas to certificates and apprenticeships, TVET enables young people and those already in work to develop the skills, experience and competencies demanded by employers, in a fast changing global economy. TVET provides individuals with skill sets for lifelong employability. TVET provides employers with the skilled workforce needed to compete and succeed. In the Pacific, TVET has a crucial role to play in providing educational opportunity, reducing inequality, filling skills gaps, and supporting sustainable economic growth – especially in rural and remote communities. FNU has unrivalled experience and a proven track record of delivering TVET aligned to labour market needs. We continue to strengthen our learning and teaching through the international accreditation of programmes, investing in our staff, and enhancing our campuses and facilities. Our primary focus is on education for employability, providing our students with the skills, experience and competencies to enjoy fulfilling careers. At FNU, we are committed to ensuring that our students are highly employable and ‘work ready’ the day after graduation, and that they acquire the outlook and motivation to become life-long learners, re-skilling and up-skilling to meet new challenges and take advantage of new opportunities, throughout their working lives.
TVET Pasifika
Professor Toby Wilkinson.
Building on these strengths, FNU is putting its TVET programmes at the service of stakeholders across the region through our TVET Pasifika brand (www.fnu. ac.fj/tvetpasifika). TVET Pasifika brings together the full range of TVET programmes offered by FNU in a single, dedicated space. TVET Pasifika is a one-stop shop where students and employers can browse, research and enrol on technical and vocational education and training programmes that meet their specific needs, helping them boost their employability and fulfil their personal and professional aspirations. TVET Pasifika draws on the collective strength and expertise of FNU’s constituent units – its five academic colleges, the National Training and Productivity Centre, and the Fiji Maritime Academy. TVET Pasifika embodies the FNU ethos of working closely with the industry to provide education for employability. Our TVET teachers have real-world industry experience as well as the right academic qualifications. Our facilities and equipment are benchmarked against international best practices, and our courses are achieving international accreditation. With flexibility in start dates, payment plans and articulation arrangements, TVET Pasifika brings all the resources and capabilities of a large university to serve TVET students, employers and partners.
New study opportunities
The Fiji National Budget for the 2021–2022 financial year includes two major announcements that underline the importance of TVET and provide an opportunity for FNU to play a critical role in the post-pandemic economic recovery. The first is the announcement of 5000 new funded places for TVET courses through the Tertiary Education Loans Scheme (TELS). FNU will work hard with employers, communities, students and their families to demonstrate that a TVET qualification is every bit as valuable as a higher educational qualification. Investing in a TVET programme, now with the added opportunity of TELS funding, provides education for employability, and is an investment in the future. The second announcement is an allocation of $1 million through the Re-skilling Fund to enable FNU to re-skill individuals who have lost their jobs since the start of the pandemic. In these challenging times, this is a real vote of confidence in FNU, and the University will work hard to repay the trust that the government and people of Fiji have placed in us.
Our commitment
At FNU, we are committed to putting our students at the heart of everything we do; to working together with students, employers and development partners; to ensuring that our TVET programmes are future focused, entrepreneurial and innovative; and to tailoring our offer to the needs of the post-pandemic economy and the opportunities of the 21st century. Working with our partners, we will continue to innovate, developing new courses and new teaching methods that enable individuals and businesses to become adaptable, resilient and sustainable. Our focus on quality, employability and relevance will support our ambition to become the TVET provider of choice for the Pacific region.
Professor Toby Wilkinson
Vice-Chancellor
Fiji National University