It is a memorable day for 304 students who graduated from the University of Fiji’s Saweni Campus in Lautoka this morning.
The students graduated from the Centre for iTaukei Studies, School of Business and Economics, School of Humanities and Arts, School of Law, School of Science and Technology, and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
While speaking at the graduation ceremony, Vice Chancellor Professor Shaista Shameem highlighted that more students are now attending the university, with 3,200 enrolled this year, the highest number they have ever recorded, not only from Fiji but also from the wider Pacific.
Professor Shameem says it has not been an easy road for students, whether they were 17 and fresh out of high school, or juggling work, family and studies.
She says the university, despite its limited resources, has nevertheless provided students with something unique and precious.
The Vice Chancellor says it is not what they teach in terms of subject areas at UniFiji, but how they teach it, that is the secret to their success.
She has reminded the graduates that as they go out into the world, any kind of authority—whether traditional, modern, or contemporary, in employment or home life, comes with responsibility, and the privilege they will enjoy must be earned, not simply bestowed by their qualifications.
Professor Shameem says they teach students to be inventors, to think imaginatively and creatively, and to go where no one has gone before, as the sky is the limit.
Meanwhile, the University is planning to establish new campuses in Labasa and Suva Central.
