In this issueLeave for new dads subsidies for study Pg 1

Long walk to help mothers Pg 1

Volume 2 No. 1909 May 2011

Na Vuli Vinaka Sa Vuni Sautu Education is Wealth Viddhya dadati Sampannata

The University has amended its Human Resources policies in regards to study benefit and

has included paternity leave.

Vice Chancellor, Dr Ganesh Chand sa id the pa ter n i ty leave provision allows male staff five days leave at the birth of their children.

T h e p o l i c y i s so that University fathers can give active support to the new

mothers during and immediately after childbirth.

The paternity leave entitles the staff member to the normal pay he would have received as if he had been at work for the birth of the first three children and half pay for the fourth and subsequent children.

Paternity leave may start on the date the baby is born.

The Vice Chancellor said under the study leave policy, staff get a number of benefits including a 75 per cent subsidy for the education of their spouses and children at FNU.

The policy states that full-time employees of the University on three-year contracts are entitled to a full refund of course tuition fees under conditions given in the policy.

The policies came into effect on 26 April 2011.

HumanResources PolicyFIJI NATIONAL

UNIVERSITY

The Fi j i White Ribbon Committee of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, with the Fiji Midwives Society, walked five kilometers from Lami Town to Kalekana Settlement just outside Lami to mark International Midwives Day last week.

Kalekana was chosen as the community to visit because there was a maternal death there recently.

The visitors learnt more about the tragedy and took the opportunity to make women and others aware of the need to work together to stop deaths during childbirth.

The walk was part of three day program organised by the Fiji Midwives Society.

Almost 50 midwives from across the country gathered at Fiji Nursing Association hall for

a national symposium to discuss plans to make maternal health more available to rural women.

Patron of the Fij i White Ribbon Safe Motherhood In i t ia t ive, Adi Koi la Mara Nailatikau hosted a reception at Government House to celebrate International Midwives Day and to launch the White Ribbon ‘Danger Signs’ Brochure.

Each year more than 340,000 women die and millions more suffer infection and disability from preventable causes during pregnancy and childbirth . About 90% of the deaths occur in developing countries.

Fiji White Ribbon plans to work with the Fiji Midwives Society to take bettermaternal care to rural women.

Big league plans for uni sports Pg 2

First mental stress clinc opens Pg 2

New head for TVET body Pg 2

Charging ahead with electrical programme in Ba Pg 3

Ideas for a university Pg 3

Better library system on the horizon Pg 3

Rally in Ba Pg 4

Wealth of knowledge Pg 4

Events Pg 4

Fiji’s first stress management clinic opened at the Samabula Health Centre to give primary care to people suffering mental health problems.

The clinic is a project of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science’s School of Medicine and the Samabula Health Centre.

Minister for Health Dr Neil Sha r ma sa id a t the open ing ceremony that the huge problems of noncommunicable diseases that confronted people in the form of obesity, hypertension, excess smoking, heavy drinking and diabetes had a close relationship to psychological stress and may present in primary care clinics rather than in mental hospitals.

That was why the School of Medicine and Samabula Health Centre had decided two months ago to open the clinic to provide a service to those suffering from emotional stress.

“The clinic has also started teaching

about the psycho-social and family problems that contribute to stress, adding a new dimension to teaching medical students

through giving them an understanding of human problems,” the Minister said.

“Post basic psychiatric nursing students will soon be helping in this clinic and learning too.”

Speaking at the handover, CMHHS Dean, Prof Ian Rouse said the vision of the Minister of Health was to develop mental

health units in the Eastern, Northern a n d W e s t e r n Division, to re-train doctors, nurses and primary health care workers in the basics of mental health and to make sure Mental Health services were thoroughly integrated i n t o t h e g e n e r a l health system.

“I indicated then and I repeat today -- my vision is that the Fiji School of Medicine and the Fiji

School of Nursing will be partners with the Ministry of Health and all relevant NGO’s to make this happen,” he said.

He said many factors decided the mental health of a person at any point of time.

CMNHS Staff and Students in front of the newly opened clinc at Samabula

Technical education and Training association.

Mr Usamate has been with FiTVeTa s i n c e i t w a s f o r m e d a n d earlier served as vice-president.

“i am happy that the people in the meeting elected me. Our m a i n t a r g e t right now is to g e t F i T V e Ta running so that a s u b s t a n t i ve committee and office bearers can be elected,” he said.

FiTVeTa was currently tr ying to finalise its registration as an industrial association.

he wanted to get FiTVeTa moving so that it can have an impact on Fiji.

“TVET is absolutely vital for Fiji, so a grouping of professionals and advocates can do a lot to improve it and spread the TVET gospel.”

“We welcome anyone who is a TVeT professional, who has a passion for TVET to come join us—and do something useful for Fiji,” Mr Usamate said.

Plans are in the pipeline to run a University staff sports competition on a league format to lead up to the annual Sports day.

Vice Chancellor Dr Ganesh Chand announced the plans after this year’s successful staff sports day.

“Come next year I would like to propose a league format competition in which teams would compete weekly over about 14 weeks,” he said.

“On sports day, all finals will be played.”Dr Chand said interest and willingness to

participate would be maintained in this way.

An encouraging factor he noted at the recent sports day was the involvement of female staff.

The Vice Chancellor was speaking at a dinner for the Lautoka Sugar Knights team at the National Training and Productivity Centre.

NTPC’s Samuel Petueli said sports brought everyone together irrespective of education status, ethnic backgrounds or religious beliefs.

“People didn’t know each other until they had to unite as a team for sports day,” he said.

DiscUssiOns are under way to reintroduce the electrical serviceman’s certificate programme through the vocational schools system in the West.

The reintroduction of the certificate on Ba campus through the vocational school system will make it more accessible to students and working electricians wanting to further their studies.

Ba Campus Electrical programme coordinator Surendra Lal said previously only the first and second stages of the certificate were offered on Ba campus.

“Now the first and second stages will be offered to through vocational schools and the third stage will be completed on Ba campus,” he said.

“This is a bridging course and once students have successfully completed the three stages they will be able to start the day classes for Certificate IV’s stages 1 to 5.”

Mr Lal said the programm had been

The value of academic freedom and the need to protect it was emphasised by University of Fi j i Literature Professor and author, Satendra Nandan in an address titled ‘Towards a University Education in Fiji’ on FNU Nadi Campus. He was giving the inaugural lecture in a series on ‘Ideas for a University’.

He said academic freedom should be protected from forces “that are inimical to the pursuit of knowledge, rationality and human dignity”.

“The freedom of independent intellectual enquiry is not only a human right; it is also a national duty; ‘speaking truth to power’ is the most demanding and often dangerous right,” he said.

H e a l s o w a r n e d a g a i n s t managerial ism within university administration and shallow ideas of performance. Corporatisation was internally damaging, especially when the institution is funded by public money, either as grants or fees.

Professor Nandan said universities today had many forms and functions, but there was one vital common component -- the idea of a forum of freedom that had taken generations of struggle and the battle was by no means settled.

Today hardly any other institutions offered such freedom. It was a

offered as evening classes to cater for workers who were unable to to attend day classes.

He said electrical subjects had been the only programme not offered to the vocational schools.

“Requests had been received from people to organise classes for electrical programmes,” he said.

“While starting this programme we are also mindful that enrolment n u m b e r s h ave t o b e consistent so that resources are not wasted.

“Response f r o m t h e b u s i n e s s houses has so far been very positive.”

all the books and materials available in all the University libraries are now listed on new computer software that not only allows users to find books, but lets them know where their borrowed books are due and even if they owe any library fines.

The new software, Horizon, is an integrated library system used by thousands of other libraries across the world. It is owned by SirsiDynix, the world leader in library automation technology.

Horizon is now working on all FNU campuses.

IT systems Librarian Niten Swamy said those working on the project are in the process of transferring data from the National Training and Productivity Centre to Horizon.

“Students will be able to check their Library accounts to see whether they have overdue books, fines, if any and when their books are due. This will ease workload on staff at the circulation desks,” he said.

Work to get the libraries onto Horizon started in early September last year.

The automated library system is expected to improve efficiency in all the University libraries, make records management better and give faster access to resources.

priceless gift and a legacy to leave, but above all it was something our generation could strengthen and fortify from the classroom to the public sphere where public intellectuals play a most crucial role.

“With three universities in Fiji, but not all necessarily of Fiji, the many issues of the nature and role of a university remains open for serious discussion: values such as institutional autonomy, collegial conceptions of governance, transparency, accountability, tenure for staff, academic f r e e d o m , ow n e r s h i p n o t o n l y o f intellectual property but of an institution publicly funded, an equitable distribution of resources, unnecessary duplication of courses and the central and critical role of academic matters and the social conscience of academics in society.

“We are fortunate that the present government of Fi j i has suppor ted substantially a privately-owned university and, more importantly, created the Fiji National University which, in the long run, I believe, will play a more productive role than any other intuition of higher learning in Fiji for the citizens of Fiji.

The regional university has, of course, benefited immensely and the fallout has been on the whole region.”

He suggested forming a national organisation of academics who are prepared to define, analyze and investigate issues vital to the life of the mind and well-being of the institutions.

PicTUre a comfy sofa, an armchair or two scattered with today’s newspapers and this week’s magazines.

Or a businesslike table surrounded by chairs and audiovisual equipment ready for a meeting; or a bench of computers with a special desk designed for disabled people; or an intimate little round table that is just the spot for a study group; maybe a silent zone, and all sections equally aesthetically pleasing.

Oh yes, and shelves of books because it’s a library. But books are no longer what libraries are all – or only -- about. It’s been coming for a long time, since computers and the internet opened up a world of virtually unlimited information storage and accessibility.

So it is understandable that Fiji National University Principal Librarian Sonny Vikash Chandra is less a book person and more IT.

The vision of comfy sofas, corners and equipment for meetings, study spots and silent reading rooms are still mostly facilities of the future in the libraries he is responsible for at the University.

But he has a vision that will help improve, and perhaps transform, the 16 libraries that serve each FNU campus. Books are by no means out of the picture: FNU has added more than $400,000 worth of books and journals so far this year, even with sourcing them out of less expensive publishers in Asia.

Then there are electronic databases that add access to a huge amount more information. They allow any computer in the University to reach all manner of teaching and learning materials and get into electronic journals and other publications and facilities.

In the latest development, electronic library mergers are bringing all the University’s stock into one system so that users are able to search for what they want, from whatever campus they are on.

The Library has a focus on students, especially those with limited resources and few places to study, who depend heavily on library resources. To help them, FNU library hours are from 7.30am to 10pm weekdays on the larger

chrisTian Fellowship students at the Ba campus are preparing for the first time for the Western CF rally later this month.

Ba campus CF president Loata Tinai said the students were eager to participate.

She said there were about 20 students from different ethnic backgrounds who participated in weekly praise and worship.

“The rally would also give the group a chance to meet other students and promote Ba Campus.

Ms Tinai said the second major CF event the students would work towards was the CF conference in Sabeto later in the year.

campuses, 8am to 5pm on weekends and public holidays, and the library holds multiple copies of the texts that students most use.

Whi le the modern l ibrar y may be a little intimidating to the techno-inept, the FNU Library is one of those ready with an Information Literacy Instruction system to help. It will take the novice through how to use the catalogue to find what they want and open the possibilities to other services the library provides.

As well as loans, there is printing, binding, copying, laminating and such, a reservation system, CDs and DVDs and information on the latest acquisitions in the general collection, the spec ia l co l lect ions including Pacific, reference a n d a r c h i v a l a n d t h e newest journal titles, other periodicals and newspapers, a n d i m p o r t a n t l y f o r students, old exam papers. Services a listed on the website and regular lists of new acquisitions are emailed around the University.

Librar ian Chandra’s vision of the future includes a budget that stretches to the next generat ion computer access, wi-fi , e-books and library service users who understand that what is googled online is not necessarily accurate and that the library’s electronic databases are the place to go for authoritative sources.

Although it is now ICT that drives him, Mr Chandra originally decided on a career as a librarian because he was interested in helping people and had a basic liking for books. He began by doing a Certificate in Library and Information Studies in 2000 and then a

eVeNtSDepartment of Media &Journalism video production, radio bulletin and web page launchVenue: Raiwai CampusTime: 12pm-2:30pmDate: Thursday 12 May 2011

Hindi Story Writing CompetitionThe Department of Communication, Lan-guage and Literature, College of Humani-ties and Education, is running a Hindi story writing competition for students, teachers and other aspiring writers in conjunction with the Indian Cultural Centre. Entries close on June 30For more information please email: manisha.ramrakha@fnu.ac.fj.

Diploma in Library a n d I n f o r m a t i o n Manag emen t . In 2006 he completed a Bachelor’s degree in

Management and Public Administration, then in 2009 was awarded a Master in Applied Science degree in Library and Information Studies from Charles Sturt University, NSW.

His association with FNU began when he joined what was then the Fiji Institute of Technology in 1999, remaining until 2003, when he went to the College of Advanced Education, now FNU Nasinu Campus, for three years. Then came a year running the Central Queensland University library at their Nasinu centre before he joined the Fiji Human Rights Commission, which involved legal and human rights research as well as controlling

library services. After completing his higher qualifications, he returned to Samabula Campus where he is now Principal Librarian. He has Australian and international library association accreditation and is a life member of the Fiji National Library Association serving as a member of the association’s council.