Volume 4 No. 3819 Sept 2013

In this issueFilm Festival good for Fiji economy Pg 1

Thank you FNU Pg 1

It’s so much easier, say teachers and students Pg 2

NTPC hosts Vanuatu officials Pg 2

BEST gives hope to students Pg 2

Making quality a convention Pg 3

Groundsmen inspired to beautify Campus Pg 4

CMNHS hosts training on fair and equal health services Pg 4

Student Profile Pg 4

For current JoB opportunities please visit

page 4

JOB VACANCIES

ISSN 2303-9779

FNU in the MediaTHIS WEEK

The Fiji National University Newsletter tracks media coverage of FNU events on a weekly basis. The following news can be found on the website which shows how FNU was featured in the media in the past week.• FNU, A-G have big plans to take local film industry to next level

• Locally-made films boost Fiji’s reputation

• Vanuatu and FNU seal deal

• 11 special school students awarded scholarships

• Apprentice scheme revival

Join us on facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/fnuofficial

Power launch: Chief guest, Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (garlanded); Indian High Commissioner HE Shri Vinod Kumar (R); Ambassador People’s

Republic of China HE Dr Hanzhi Qing (L); FNU VC Dr Ganesh Chand (far left); (far right) Acting Film Fiji Chair Shaenaz Voss and Riddhi Damodar of Damodar

Brothers Cinemas. Standing is FNU’s Director UniStudio, Ravi Malik.

Fiji’s Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has com-mended the Fiji National

University-organised Film Festi-val while launching the annual extravaganza last Friday, saying it is important not only for the film industry but for Fiji’s economy as a whole.

Addressing around 300 peo-ple gathered for the launch of the 2013 Film Festival at Village Six Cinemas, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum out-lined the multiplier effect that film production potentially has on the Fijian economy.

“The movie industry or the production of movies generally at a conservative level has a multi-plying factor of about two and a half times. So every dollar spent by a production company for mak-ing a movie can multiply itself by two and half times.

“What it essentially means is that it provides over a short pe-riod of time, a massive injection into the economy. And that in-jection into the economy means jobs, means more demand for our goods and services but also at the same time from a long term perspective, which is why this film

festival is very, very important is it develops a group of Fijians who will be specialized in film making,” said Mr Sayed-Khaiyum.

Apart from the fact that the film festi-val adds to the overall tourism branding of Fiji, it also creates an interest among youths, stude-nts and the younger genera-tion about film making.

“Hopefully it will create new directors, new producers, cam-era persons, make-up art-ists, wardrobe specialists and hopefully all that can subsume into a film industry in Fiji.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum thanked FNU for coming up with the Film Festival initiative and for organiz-ing it in a very professional and coordinated manner.

He also gave the assurance that the Ministry of Tourism will work with FNU to promote the Fiji Film Festival.

Fiji National University is part-nering with Film Fiji and the Indian High Commission, supported by Damodar Brother Ltd, to host the extravaganza this week.

Indian High Commissioner,

For a school that is about 70 kilometres away from Suva, the effort by

Fiji National University to be present at their open day was ex-tra special.

FNU was the only tertiary edu-cator to take part in Queen Victo-ria School’s annual exposition or-ganized in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

School Principal Ilaitia Le-wanavanua commended FNU

for making the effort to be at the school to provide provisional en-rolment to their Seventh Formers.

“This is a great imitative by FNU to go out to rural schools and we are thankful to the University. Due to our location, students can-not travel to Suva for information regularly and the FNU coming to us is a bonus,” Mr Lewanavanua

said.He said students were

delighted to receive informa-tion about programmes and

courses offered at the University. “We do this expo every year and it’s a pity that other tertiary educa-tors are not here,” he said.

The excursion by FNU proved a bonus for other schools in the Tailevu area who visited QVS to take advantage of the expo.

Film Festival good for Fiji economy

Thank you FNU

(Continued on pg 2)

(Continued on pg 2)

Na t i o n a l Training and P roduc t i v -

ity Centre’s Basic Employment Skills Training (BEST) programme is a win-dow of hope for secondary school students who are more inclined towards vocational rather than academic educa-tion.

The teachers said the BEST initiative was one of the best decisions made by Gov-ernment.

“Not every student is aca-demically competent and this is where BEST programme comes to the rescue of stu-dents who are left to won-der what to do next after high school. BEST gives students

the confidence needed to ex-plore new opportunities,” said Sixth Form teacher Uraia Buli-mairewa of Laucala Bay Sec-ondary School.

Mr Bulimairewa said the BEST programme enables stu-dents to tap into the skills they are good at and motivates the students, giving them a new confidence to chart a bright career path for themselves.

“The programme helps the students think globally where they get to see and feel what real life work requires from them. Hence, it prepares them towards a successful career

path,” said an-other teacher Priya Lal from All Saints Sec-

ondary School in Labasa.Mr Bulimairewa said most

of the students enrolled in the BEST programme have de-cided to pursue BEST training further, after completing high school.

“Some of our past stu-dents who have gone through the BEST programme in high school are continuing in the respective area of training af-ter finishing high school while some have established for themselves a successful ca-reer path just through BEST,” said Mr Bulimairewa.

(Continued from pg 1)It’s so much easier, say teachers and students

BEST gives hope to students

Thank you for making things easier for our

students.These were the

words of the Principal of Nadroga’s Sigatoka Methodist School, Losana Davunisautu.

She said the provi-sional enrolment drive being carried out by Fiji National University was a great idea.

Ms Davunisautu said moving out to secondary schools to to help their students enroll, allowed stu-dents to clarify their queries and concerns on a face-to-face ba-sis.

“Our students can get to clear their doubts with the FNU team present,” she said.

Sigatoka Method-ist head girl Sereana Raiyawa said their school had participat-ed at the FNU Open Day earlier in the year and she had found the courses to be interest-ing.

Raiyawa is an Accounting student and hopes to pursue tertiary studies in that field.

“My aim is to become an accountant,” she said.

Fellow school mate Ana Delai said she was interested in pursuing a career in the medi-cal field particularly in dentistry.

She said with the FNU team going out to schools, it made it easier for the students to choose and make their final de-cision even if they had already made up their minds on their career paths to follow.

Meanwhile, Nadroga Arya School Principal, Prem Chand said it was very encourag-ing to see FNU make its way across to serve the students in schools.

He said not only were the students interested in enroll-ing with FNU but his teachers were also interested in further-ing their studies.

“This is an opportune time for our students to settle their queries and concerns about tertiary education,” he said.

Nadroga Arya student Riya Khan said it was great that there were so many courses on

offer at FNU.Fellow student Shifadjzic

Khan said he wanted to pur-sue studies in Agriculture.

He said there were op-portunities provided by the government in the agriculture industry that school leavers should take advantage of.

“I come from a farming background and have always been interested in agriculture. This is my chance to pursue my studies in that field and also help my family once I have completed my school-ing,” he said.

FNU’s provisional enrol-ment drive allows Forms 6 and 7 students to be enrolled into the tertiary study pro-gramme of their choice based on mid-year examination re-sults.

They will receive a pro-visional offer letter and their status will be confirmed based on their year-end ex-ternal exam results.

Students must bring with them original or certified cop-ies of birth certificates, mid-year exam results and two passport-sized photos.

His Excellency Shri Vinod Kumar said the Fes-tival will showcase the high quality of films pro-duced by locals and students.

“With the 200 entries submitted this year, the quality of films is of its best and we hope we will appreciate it during the week-long festival,” said Mr Kumar.

Fiji National University Vice Chancellor, Dr Ganesh Chand said it is FNU’s intention to en-sure this event becomes part of the annual Fijian calendar.

“It is vital that all organisations involved in film making and production get together so that we can publicise this as an attraction for at least one week, which will not only benefit the tour-ism industry but also the airline industry, cater-ing industry as well as provide opportunities for film lovers from across the world to come to Fiji and spend the week viewing the films we have made,” Dr Chand said.

Film Fiji Acting Chairperson, Shaenaz Voss said the Festival is a launching pad for many budding film makers.

“This is a platform for local participants and film makers to showcase their talents.

“This is the first time we have come together as partners with the Fiji National University to also screen the films for the Kula Film Awards,” she said.

More than 200 movie entries were received for screening including 48 film submissions for the Kula Film Awards.

The Film Festival ends this Saturday, Sep-tember 21, coinciding with the annual Kula Film Awards.

Following the signing of Memoranda of Agreement with Fiji National University last week, officials from two Vanuatu tertiary

institutes visited the headquarters of National Training and Productivity Centre to look at taking the next step towards achieving the objectives under the agreements.

The MOUs with the Vanuatu Institute of Tech-nology and Vanuatu Rural Development and Training Association provide for the training and upskilling of trainers and teachers for both uni-versities.

VIT Principal Kalbeo Kalpat said his team had a lot to learn from NTPC.

“We don’t have all these varieties of courses back home as it is difficult for us but our good re-lationship with the University (FNU) now will help my people take advantage of these courses as well.” Mr Kalpat said what got his attention the most was that NTPC caters for the needs of all age groups and across all occupations.

“NTPC serves those employed in the indus-try as well as those requiring specialised skills to join the industry. That is very good and we learnt that some of your trainers are brought from over-seas countries. Now that uplifts the quality of pro-grammes on offer,” he said.

The officials from Vanuatu were also very interested in the one percent levy contributed by employers in Fiji to support the operations of NTPC.

“That is something very interesting for us to think about later,” he said.

NTPC Director Kamlesh Prakash said such visits by neighbouring countries were encourag-ing and fostered cordial relations between ter-tiary institutes.

Film Festival good for Fiji economy

NTPC hosts Vanuatu officials

The National Training and Productivity Cen-tre, as the implementing agency of the productivity awareness campaign in Fiji,

is organising one of the most looked-forward-to events of 2013 – the National Convention on Quality (NCQ). The newsletter team spoke with NTPC’s Manager Quality Awards, Robin Anga-nu, who looks after the event.

What is the National Convention on Qual-ity all about?

The event that will be held on 22 November will bring together quality experts and enthusi-asts from all over the country for a valuable ex-change of ideas, knowledge and experiences in quality and productivity management “Improve-ment today for a better tomorrow” is the theme of the event.

What is the purpose of the convention? a. To promote job involvement & employee motivationb. To enhance the quality of products & ser- vicesc. To promote effective teamworkd. To promote employee decision-making through participatione. To improve communication within organisa- tionsf. To improve the management/employee relationshipg. To improve leadership qualitiesh. To provide training in defining and solving problems

Who participates in this event?Quality practitioners, quality circles, private/

public sector including union groups and em-ployer/employee associations. The gathering also includes chief executives, managers and specialists from the field as stipulated under the Productivity Charter and those that the organisa-tions think can go back after the Convention and implement.

Who are quality practitioners and what do they do?

Quality practitioners are leaders who pro-mote, raise awareness and are champions in productivity, those actively practising quality as part of their job or specialising in specific aspects of quality, such as inspection, quality control, quality assurance, systems management, audit, business improvement, supplier quality manage-ment, certification, service quality, regulatory compliance.

And what are Quality Circles?Quality Circles (QC) are a formal, institution-

alized mechanism for problem-solving interac-tion among the employees of an organisation. It is a continuous improvement process; standards have to be defined and revised continuously for each operation, process and team; policies have to be revised and fine-tuned to suit to the chang-es; people have to be trained and re-trained.

How many organisations in Fiji actually have QCs and how effec-tive are these circles?

To list some major business hous-es that have QC Circles:

• Asco Motors• British American (Fiji) Limited• Fiji Ships & Heavy Industries Limited • Denam Fiji Limited• Flours Mills of Fiji Limited • Fletcher Pacific Steel (Fiji) Limited• Goodman Fielder International (Fiji) Limited • iTaukei Affairs• Mark One Apparel • Tanoa Hotels• NTPC • Vodafone Fiji Limited• Pacific Batteries Limited• Post Fiji Limited• Punja & Son Limited• Tubemakers & Roofmart (SP) Limited • Suva City Council (Health Department)• Bank of South PacificAs you can see from the list, major business

houses and organisations in Fiji have QC cir-cles in place that are effectively functioning for them and which makes an enormous contribu-tion towards profitability. By the way, the list is not an exhaustive one.

Explain in simple terms, how QC circles operate in the workplace?

The philosophy behind Quality Circle ac-tivities which is made up of employer and em-ployee representatives is that besides contrib-uting to the improvement and development of the enterprise, it also builds a work atmosphere which is more meaningful because there is mu-tual respect. The process of gradual improve-ment is part of a long-term initiative to change organisational culture and improve the quality of processes.

This is led by top management reps like se-nior and executive staff/supervisors who must be committed to the process. Problems can be identified by any member (management or em-ployee), analysed by members, recommenda-tions made to the management, reviewed by management and then a decision is made by management.

How do QCs foster good employer/em-ployee relations?

QCs are based on the philosophy that near-ly everybody will take more interest and pride in their work if they have a share in the decision-making or have a say in how their work should be conducted. The group must meet regularly.

The group addresses issues like productiv-ity improvements, quality improvements, cost reduction, on-time delivery, service improve-ment (Service Quality & Customer Relations), housekeeping, environment, health and safety and other topics in-line with the company’s

quality policy. By developing individual capabilities and cre-ating a cordial atmosphere in the workplace, the staff find it a more meaningful place to work in. As a result, not only staff and management benefit but the or-ganisation also benefits.

Is there a drive to extend QC Circles to other organisa-tions, how is that progress-ing and how receptive are the private and public sectors to the concept?

From the above list, you can see major organizations in Fiji have QCs operating, so you can see that the private sector is very receptive, while for the public sector, a num-ber of training workshops have taken place with PSC, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labour; other Ministries should also have these productivity tools implemented.

How will NTPC generate effective discussion at this convention?

NTPC invites quality practi-tioners and quality circles from various organisations to pres-ent papers at the Convention. Papers and projects should be related to corporate success

stories such as:• Future trends of quality and productivity management in the 21st Century• International standards (ISO 9000 and ISO 14000)• Empowering quality circles to achieve cus- tomer satisfaction• Quality strategies for global economy• Integrating QCs and other forms of quality initiatives• The quality journey• Integration of QCs with other quality initia- tives• Innovation and quality

How is the quality control drive passed on to organisations?

Through public seminars and in-house ses-sions.

What are some key convention outcomes from previous years (in terms of practical business solutions that the private sector can apply to improve quality and productiv-ity? )

Organisations have learnt from each other on how to cut costs and improve operations to lead to savings.

How much of a difference has the qual-ity and productivity movement made to Fiji’s standards of goods and services, both do-mestically and in the export market?

For both the sectors (domestically & export), quality and productivity has made a profound mark on problem-solving and quality improve-ment that leads to gains for the organisation as well as cost reductions as these organisations capture the market with better quality product and stay in business and provide jobs.

The FNU newsletter is prepared by University Communications. Send your articles to SPRO@fnu.ac.fj

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VacanciesFor job vacancies and career opportunities at Fiji National University, go to www.career.fnu.ac.fj New posts are logged each week for academic and non-academic vacancies,

so check regularly for the opportunity that could lead you to a new life. Some of the positions currently available online:

The College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sci-ences (CMNHS) is host-

ing a series of workshops in Fiji and the Pacific on ensuring the provision of equal and fair health services to individuals from key affected populations, such as sex workers, trans-gender individuals and people living with HIV AIDS.

The workshops are part of the Pacific Sexual Health and HIV health worker support project, which is a collabora-tion between CMNHS and the Albion Centre in Sydney, Aus-tralia.

A recent study in Fiji un-der this project indicated that individuals from these key af-fected segments are provided sub-standard health services and are stigmatized and dis-criminated against.

So to raise awareness on this issue and to ensure equal and fair services are provided to these key affected popula-tions, a two-day HIV Sensiti-zation Training was held on 5 and 6 September for health care workers in Labasa. The training was attended by staff

from various sub-divisional hospitals and health centers including Bua, Savusavu, Sa-gani and Taveuni.

A unique feature of the workshop was that most of the sessions were facilitated by members of the key affected populations whom the orga-nizers believed would make a greater impact in changing the attitudes and beliefs of the health care workers.

The facilitators from the Key Affected Population (KAP) group were trained in an ear-lier workshop called HIV Sen-

sitization Training of Trainers.Dr. Mere Vakalatabua, one

of the workshop participants said that the training was an eye opener and that they are now better placed to respond to not only clients of sexual health but everyone in gen-eral.

Similar workshops are planned for Cook Islands and Solomon Islands late in the year.

The workshop was made possible through funding as-sistance from AusAID’s con-sortium on HIV.

Groundsmen at the Ba Campus have taken it upon themselves

to put into action what they learnt at a landscaping work-shop last year.

As a result, several beau-tification projects are under-way on the Campus.

Campus Coordinator Merewai Dolovale said the project began early this year when the Head Caretaker, Tevita Gauna was inspired to put into practice what he learnt.

“We are waiting to get the wall painting done to ar-range beautification at the sight with a fountain and light shooting at the whole image,” she said.

“This is all part of our plan to beautify the frontage of Ba Campus and the first we in-

tend to do is have the signage painted on the Agriculture Wall [similar to Maritime Wall Sig-nage].

She said this was the first project while the other groundsmen are planting flow-

ers around the Campus.“The landscaping will fol-

low. We intend to collect rocks from around the Campus and maybe request for just two or three loads of top soil for the planned flower gardens.”

CMNHS hosts training on fair and equal health services

Student Profile

1. Which campus are you studying on?Nadi.

2. What programme are you enrolled in?Certificate IV in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (Avionics).

3. What inspired you to take up this programme?A family member who is also studying in the same field.

4. What do you enjoy about University life?Freedom.

5. What is your favourite activity on campus? Playing volleyball after classes.

6. What things distract you on campus?My friends.

7. How do you manage your stress?By playing sports. I like to go swimming when I feel stressed out.

8. Who is your role model or mentor?My mother and my cousins.

9. What career will your course prepare you for? An aircraft engineer.

10. Who do you find the most supportive of your study endeavours?My mother.

11. Hobbies?Swimming, reading, and travelling.

Josh Mar

Groundsmen inspired to beautify Campus