THE Fiji National University is the first university to pursue regional recognition of its short courses through the Pacific Community’s (SPC) accreditation services of micro-qualifications.
According to FNU, the university and SPC yesterday formalised their commitment with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The FNU stated that the need for such a service was identified last year.
To establish the necessary mechanisms to be able to provide the service, EQAP successfully sourced financial support from SPC’s Innovation Fund.
SPC deputy director general Dr Audrey Aumua said such innovative solutions were the kind of initiatives expected of the Pacific Community “as an innovative scientific organisation that works to support the countries that it serves”.
“The Pacific region has a large number of short courses offered by various organisations,” Dr Aumua said at the signing ceremony yesterday.
“Whilst these training use up precious time and limited financial resources, they do not always receive the deserved level of recognition and do not contribute to the qualification of the learners.
“SPC’s initiative on accreditation of short courses as micro-qualifications fills an important gap in the enhancement of the quality of education and training because national quality assurance agencies do not provide for this.”
FNU vice-chancellor Professor Nigel Healey said he was confident the 100-plus Certificates of Attainment short courses would meet the requirements of accreditation with EQAP.
“For decades, our micro-qualifications, formerly more commonly known as Short Courses (Certificates of Attainment), at FNU have remained unrecognised qualifications by overseas accreditation agencies,” he said.
