CAPTION: Students of JasperWilliams High School at the open day.
The USP Lautoka Campus Open Day is well known as an annual event full of fun, entertainment and a point of information kiosk for prospective students and anyone interested in experiencing university life.
This is exactly what the Campus had in mind when it organized this year’s event, held at the Lautoka Churchill Park on Friday, 09 August and Satuday, 10 August.
As usual, the 2013 Open Day attracted people of all age groups, including students, youths and adults from all background. Around 3000 members of the community attended the event on Friday and Saturday combined. In addition to that over 1500 students from Secondary schools around the Western Division made a formal visit with their teachers on Friday, who were accorded special welcome on arrival with greetings and entertainment before being ushered to the display booths.
The students had the opportunity to obtain information about USP, its programs and courses and also learn about the benefits of studying through Distance and Flexible Learning mode that is offered at the Lautoka Campus in the Western Division.
USP staff and students were available to provide guidance and assistance to those seeking further information about USP or its Lautoka Campus offerings. Academic staff from USP’s three faculties – Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE); Faculty of Business and Economics and Faculty of Science (FBE), Technology and Environment were also available making it convenient for students to get all their queries answered instantly
The event was officially opened on Friday morning with inspiring speech from three guest speakers – Divisional Education Officer Western LorimaVoravora, Lautoka City Council Chief Executive Officer JoneNakauvadra and Dean of Faculty of Arts, Law and Education, DrAkanisiKedrayate.
In her keynote address, DrKedrayate said USP aimed at bringing as many relevant courses and programs as possible to the Western Division through its Lautoka Campus so that students get better opportunities to make a choice of furthering their higher education.
DrKedrayate said USP was focused at providing quality education and also cooperate and collaborate with other universities in the country, for the betterment of Fiji.
MrNakauvadra said USP Lautoka Campus was indeed the “Pride of Sugar City” as highlighted in the theme of his speech, as USP was Fiji’s premier university and one of the only two regional universities in the world.
“The decision of the university to set up its Lautoka Campus some years ago was a wise and sensible one which we all are proud of as Lautoka is the administrative capital of the Western Division and Fiji’s second major city serving a population around 100,000 within the urban and peri-urban area,” he said.
MrNakauvadra said USP’s role in shaping the economic and social landscape for Lautoka City will be very critical in terms of human resource development.
“The people of Lautoka and indeed the whole of the Western Division will be looking toward the university in these regard as development and economic progress is often measured against the level of education of its citizens.”
Those interested in upgrading their skills and getting trained at workplace were able to explore the opportunities provided by USP Lautoka Campus’ Continuing and Community Education Centre by visiting its respective booth and talking to the staff.
Interesting science display by various schools from FSTE including School of Geography, Earth Science and Environment, School of Marine Resources, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, School of Computing, Information and Mathematical Sciences, School of Engineering and Physics were the major attraction.
There was also a creative and colorful display by the Lautoka Campus Library.
Outside the main USP tents were other booths by corporate companies and food and refreshment stalls and a variety of entertainment and other fun activities such as quizzes with interesting giveaways for participants as well as live broadcast by Mix FM all day long, creating a very lively and carnival-like atmosphere.
The free open air concert on Friday evening also received a lot of applause and cheer from the crowd.
USP Lautoka Campus Director Dr. Pramila Devi said the event was held over two days and on extended hours on Friday evening especially to allow people the flexibility to attend at the time convenient to them.
Dr Devi said she was pleased with the response from the members of the public and thanked everyone who participated and contributed towards the success of the event.
USP LAUTOKA CAMPUS