This paper, using a critical ethnographic methodology, examines the lessons for the Pacific and institution-building from the first ten years (2010-20) of Fiji National University from the perspective of an insider researcher who served as vice-chancellor (president) during this period. Using a framework of macro- and micro-level challenges, it highlights the key obstacles to executing the vision of a national university.

1. Building higher education institutions in
the Pacific: lessons from the first ten years
of Fiji National University
Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies
Research Seminar - 6 May 2022
Professor Nigel Healey
Vice-President Global & Community Engagement

2. Overview
• Introduction
• Literature review
• Research methodology
• Fiji National University: the first ten years
• The lessons from the first ten years:
• Challenges at macro- and micro-level
• Conclusions

3. Introduction (1)
• Melanesian group of islands (330) 2,000km north-east of New Zealand
• Upper middle income: pc GDP US$10,251 (2018 PPP)
• Population 926,000 (2018)
• Ethnicities: Melanesian (54.3%), Indo-Fijian (38.1%)
• Independence: 1970
• Republic: 1987
• Coups: 1987 (2), 2000, 2006
• General elections 2014, 2018
• Unicameral Westminster-style democracy with non-executive president
• Compulsory free education to Year 11, optional free education to Year 13
• Higher education free at point of use (tuition/study loans), est. 60%
participation rate
• Economy growing strongly until 2019, dependent on tourism

4. Introduction (2)
• A national university as an expression of nationhood and self-determination
• Meet local labour market needs
• Address social and ethnic inequality
• Celebrate national identity and independence
• University of the South Pacific 1968, but:
• National University of Samoa 1984
• Fiji National University 2010
• Solomon Islands National University 2013
• King's International University, Tonga 2014
• National University of Vanuatu 2020

5. Literature review (1): Characteristics of a World-Class University:
Alignment of Key Factors
Source:
Salmi
(2009)

6. Literature review (2)
• Challenge of creating (world-class) universities in developing
countries (Lee, 2013):
• Macro-level
• Structural disadvantages
• Global competition
• Micro-level
• Internal tensions
• Lack of research capacity
• High costs
• Lack of autonomy
Salmi, J., 2009. The challenges of establishing world-class universities. Washington DC: The World Bank.
Lee, J. (2013). Creating world-class universities: implications for developing countries. Prospects, 43, 233-249.

7. Research methodology
• Insider research
• Researcher’s implicit knowledge (Hannabus 2000)
• Credibility and peer respect (Hockey 1993)
• Common biographical baggage (Cohen et al 2007)
• Access to personal networks
• Get inside the black box
• Ethnographic research
• Shares advantages of insider research
• Risk of bias (Reed-Danahay 2002)
• Illusion of objectivity (Fine 2003)
• Ethical issues
• Rich insights

8. Fiji National University: the first ten years
• Fiji National University Act 2009
• Created in 2010 by merging six tertiary colleges
• Fiji School of Medicine est.1885
• Fiji School of Nursing est. 1893
• Fiji College of Advanced Education est. 1947
• Fiji College of Agriculture est. 1954
• Fiji Institute of Technology est. 1963
• Lautoka Teachers College est. 1978
• plus
• Training and Productivity Authority of Fiji est. 1973
• Followed road travelled by, inter alia, UK polytechnics and some Australian universities in late 1960s
and 1970s

9. Fiji National University
in 2020
• Six colleges:
• Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
• Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies
• Engineering, Science and Technology
• Humanities and Education
• Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
• National Training and Productivity Centre
• Ten campuses
Key statistics
Enrolments 18,656
% higher education 66.5%
% female 55.7%
Academic staff 819
Support staff 1,216
Operating revenue $178m

10. Key developments 2010-20
• Curriculum development: the growth of new higher education qualifications
• Staff: Raising the qualifications of academic staff
• Organisational design: standardising academic structures
• Infrastructure: Investment in digital and physical resources

11. The lessons from the first ten years

12. Challenges
(macro-level):
structural
disadvantages

13. Challenges (macro-level): global competition
• Fierce competition for key academic and support staff
• hard to match salaries and research support in neighboring countries
• EMI both a strength (attract staff) and a weakness (lose staff)
• Colonial Girmitya history means most younger expatriate academics come from India
• well-qualified, but bring alien pedagogical style
• Since 1987, many younger Indo-Fijian academics seek careers in Australia and New
Zealand
• eg, impact of 2019 New Zealand science/math teacher recruitment drive
• Over-reliance on attracting senior academics near retirement

14. Challenges
(micro-level):
internal
tensions
• Competition for taxpayer funds
• Support for University of the South Pacific vs Fiji
National University
• Tuition/study loans for direct entry to FNU from
Year 12
• Tuition/study loans limited to study in Fiji
• Government capital grants for major
infrastructure projects
• Education vs health care vs public infrastructure vs
lower taxes
• Quality or quantity?
• eg, medical training
• Fundamental challenge:
• Complete reliance on Government funding – 40%
revenue from operating grant, 40% from tuition
fees, most of the balance from residences/catering
(study loans)
• Government funding dependent on economy and
tourism

15. Government dependence and the risk register

16. Fiji economic
growth forecast
Fiji Real GDP Growth 2010-20
Source: tradingeconomics.com

17. Dependence on tourism turns pandemic
into a financial crisis
Monthly visitor arrival numbers
Source: tradingeconomics.com

18. Challenges (micro-level): lack of research
capacity
• Culture
• Weak research culture due to history of vocational education
• Development of research culture inhibited by dual sector structure
• Vulnerability to predatory journals and conferences
• Resources
• No national research council
• Research almost wholly cross-subsidized by tuition fees
• Leading research teams often become junior partners to foreign
universities
• Limited pipeline of locally-produced early career researchers
• Hard to lure back PhDs trained overseas

19. Revitalizing
Informal
Settlements
and their
Environments
(RISE)

20. Challenges (micro-level): high operating
costs
• Expensive to operate comprehensive, dual sector, multicampus university in the
national interest
• Tyranny of distance, lack of local competition
• Books and equipment imported and expensive
• Academic salaries have to be high to attract and retain high-quality staff
• High relative to support staff and sub-degree teachers
• Creates tensions between staff and between local and expatriate staff
• But the leveling effect of ICT…

21. The power of ICT to
level the playing field
• 2016-20
• Connect the University to the Southern
Cross cable
• Install routers (GeoNet) on campuses -
DigitalFIJI
• Move to online library collections
• Convert libraries to learning commons
• Make laptops available to low-income
students
• Enter partnerships with ISPs for free
access
• Upgrade to new university management
information system

22. Challenges (micro-level): lack of autonomy
• Fiji National University was the creation of the military government (2006-2014) that has ruled
since 2014 as FijiFirst Government
• Fiji National University is a critical arm of public policy in a country with a young population
• Positive political influence:
• Building a digital infrastructure as part of DigitalFIJI
• Funding infrastructure development to meet national needs (eg, Look North, engineering)
• Negative political influence:
• Direct government funding despite Fiji Higher Education Commission
• University council appointed by Minister of Education
• Sub-conscious political influence:
• Difficult to nurture institutional autonomy when government and the national university are
so interdependent
• Eg, DigitalFIJI initiative
18/01/21

23. Other challenges
• Conflict between traditional values and ‘imported’ management practices
• Kinship
• Respect for elders
• Talanoa spirit
• ’Colonial cringe’
• Internalized inferiority complex
• Reinforced by institutional isomorphism in university’s strategy and
organizational design
• Pressure to pursue World University Rankings
• Exacerbated by tendency to hire senior academic mangers trained outside
the country
18/01/21

24. Conclusions
• There is an established literature on challenges of
developing universities in developing countries
• Issue rarely approached from an
insider/ethnographic perspective
• New insights:
• Role of ICT in reducing costs of research and
learning and teaching
• Vulnerability of national universities to the
country’s economic fortunes
• Deep interdependence between government
and the national university
• Threat of academic neo-colonialism and
inappropriate institutional isomorphism
• Unresolved ethical issues with ethnographic
research in university management

25. https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cjhe20/44/2