As thousands gathered in Suva, Fiji, for The University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Laucala Campus two-day graduation ceremonies, the call to safeguard and evolve the region’s shared legacy took centre stage.
USP Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council and Interim Management Group, the Right Honourable Siosiua Utoikamanu, made this challenge and reminded graduates that both their education and the University itself are shared regional inheritances that must be safeguarded and evolved.
Speaking to the graduating class, the Pro-Chancellor reminded the graduates that both their education and the University itself are shared regional inheritances that must be safeguarded and evolved.
“USP itself is something we have inherited. Nearly six decades ago, Pacific leaders imagined something remarkable, a University jointly owned by the countries of our region, serving their peoples and creating opportunities across an ocean that others too often saw only as distance,” he said.
“Each generation since has inherited that University, and each generation has had a responsibility to ask whether it is still serving the Pacific as well as it should.”
As student needs, technology, and regional expectations shift, the Pro-Chancellor added that both the institution and its graduates must adapt while holding firm to their core Pacific identity.
He urged the graduates not to lose sight of their heritage in the pursuit of modern ambition and challenged the Class of 2026 to lead with purpose across their respective nations.
“Our cultures have long understood that we belong to something larger than ourselves. Our land and ocean are not simply resources for the present. Our languages do not belong only to those who speak them today,” he added.
“Our knowledge does not end with the person who possesses it. These things pass through generations, and each generation becomes, for a time, their custodian.”
“Create a future in which others can flourish. Leave your profession stronger. Leave your community stronger. Leave our Pacific stronger and when the time comes to hand to another generation what was once entrusted to you, may you be able to look back with pride, knowing that you did not simply benefit from the opportunities you were given, but enlarged them for someone else.”
