Event Information:

Address by H.E. MR. EIICHI OSHIMA,
Ambassador of Japan,
on the Occasion of USP Open Day
10 August 2012, at the University of the South Pacific

Thank you very much, Dr. Akanisi Kedrayate, Master of Ceremony, and Dean, Faculty of Arts, Law and Education,

Professor Rajesh Chandra, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of the South Pacific,
Mr. Ikbal Jannif, Pro- Chancellor and Chair of the USP Council,
Members of the USP Senior Management team,

Dr. Anjeela Jokhan, Dean, Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment,
Dr. Kesaia Seniloli, Acting Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics,

Honourable Ministers,
Excellencies
Members of the Diplomatic Corps

Young students and future leaders,
Distinguished Guests, and Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning, Ni sa bula and Namaste!

It gives me great pleasure to be here today on the occasion of USP 2012 Open Day.  I  hope that you the young students fully utilize today’s opportunity to get to know a variety of pathways that USP has to offer, and to discover your potentials which you may newly find in yourselves here. 

I wish to stress that USP is a very unique academic institution covering Pacific region, jointly owned by the governments of 12 member countries.  It is also supported by various partners including Japan, in many dimensions.  One of the unique aspects of USP is its extensive reach in the region through its campuses and very innovative Distance and Flexible Learning mode.  This provides USP with the perfect environment to deliver quality education with variety of choice and diversity.

USP, with a wide range of programs through the Faculty of Arts and Law, Education,  Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment, and Faculty of Business and Economics, provides an ideal opportunity to secure your future and meet life’s challenges.  You may or may not like to start up to study a new subject, after years of study in High Schools, but university is the place of  establishing your intellectual ground, and Inter-Disciplinary mind or approach, which will be  your great assets in  life. Time to be spent as a university student, I would say, is one of the most blessed periods in your life.  I hope you will explore as well as unleash your potentials to the maximum  during this time.

Diversity of students, members of academia as well as staff at USP will give you incomparable experience in understanding and appreciating the differences that exist amongst us such as ethnicity, religious and racial background, culture and tradition as well as geographical origin.  This diversity is not limited to the region.  You will see that the USP has concluded many arrangements with universities out of the region, including those in Japan.  So, wherever you enroll in a USP program, you will always find yourselves in a regional and international environment.

At the same time, USP, in its entirety, identifies with one common goal, that it pursues to serve for the betterment of the Pacific communities.  It never stops to try to be innovative and creative and Japan is proud to be a partner of the USP in such endeavors.  USP and Japan have enjoyed excellent relationship and cooperation over the past decades, starting from the very first dispatch of Fisheries experts to USP in 1980’s.  Japan is also proud to have been a part of the University’s efforts in laying infrastructural and intellectual framework for the Distance and Flexible Learning under the USP ICT Human Development and Human Security Project. 
The most recent infrastructure and technical projects relating to ICT is Japan-Pacific ICT Center, including the recently completed Multipurpose Theater of the ICT Center.  You may know that the satellite communication system in the ICT Center did carry out communication with the Japanese astronaut in the International Space Station or some of you present here today may have participated in that event.

In USP’s Faculties, you will be able to find several professors and lecturers who have studied in Japan.  Indeed, many USP students and researchers have been successful in their studies under Japanese Government Scholarship.  Also you will be able to find some professors and lecturers from Japan teaching in USP.  I feel much honored to see such intellectual cooperation.

Taking today’s opportunity, may I briefly touch upon the KIZUNA Project?  It is a USP project funded by the Government of Japan for Youth Exchange.  The project offers more than 300 youth from 14 Pacific islands countries and region a visit to Japan for around 11 days, and participants will get first-hand experience of Japan’s culture and environment through several exchange events to be held in schools and with local communities.  The participants of the program will also be given the opportunity to visit the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake for a few days and join the interaction with the affected people, and visit local schools.   It is hoped that this Project will lead to building closer ties between Pacific Youth and people of Japan.  I encourage all interested students to enquire about the program in the respective USP campus of the member country.

Dear students,
May I ask what are your expectation from the University?
Some expect to obtain new knowledge and skills at university. But university is not only for that.  It is said that university is the place to search for truth.  Do you know what “search for truth” or “quest for truth” means?  I will let your minds ponder for a while as I will provide the answer for this question later in my address.

University offers the place for the highest level of education and research in politics, economics, natural science, arts, and other areas.  Human society where we live now is not a perfect world.  In field of Politics, we say democracy is the best developed forms of government, but yet, we have not found the perfect forms of democracy, among many of its variations like presidential or parliamentary cabinet system.  For example, Fiji is trying to find it out for over decades.  In the University, you can step back a bit from real politics and study and discuss on such unresolved questions from scratch.

The role of university is very important in field of Economics as well.  How to realize sustainable development in Islands developing states is one of the very critical matters we are facing now. I am sure that USP is playing vital role in this subject.

Universities have been very central in field of Natural Science.  I guess some of you had the chance to audience the public seminar by Professor Suzuki, Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry the other day.  His research and its outcome have greatly benefitted humanity in over the world. 

Other example is that Japanese researchers, together with USP, are currently undertaking the Eco-technological experimental project to protect the coastal land of Tuvalu against sea level rise, called “Foram Sands project”.  Foram or Foraminifer is very small  creature with star-like shaped shells.  These shells accumulate at shores or shallow water to eventually form islands.  It will take years, but through this project, we are seeking coastal protection that does not conflict with natural processes.

These are only some aspects of the University’s abilities.  I mentioned a few minutes ago that university is the place to search for truth – what I expect to you in university is to think by yourselves and to judge by yourselves. You should have your own opinions. Don’t parrot someone else’s ideas.   It is not easy to do.  It requires wide knowledge and logical thinking.  And it is university that can offer such environment in which you can get all these abilities.

Ladies and Gentlemen, and students,
I couldn’t agree more with the theme for this occasion, that is, “USP – Your Pathway to Success”.  Over the years, USP has produced leaders, statesmen, academics, inventors and many more who have gone on to steer the course of their nations, their economies, and their societies in the region.  I am confident that among the young and bright faces I see today, many of you will also step up to such roles and responsibilities in the future after you complete your studies at USP. 

Regional leaders have jointly applauded USP as the best example of regional cooperation and success, which is another reason why Japan is proud to be a contributor towards USP’s development.  Such honour and accolades from all over the region has entrenched USP in the collective consciousness of the people of the region as indeed, USP is the “Pathway to Success”.
I wish all of you a successful USP Open Day 2012.

Thank you very much. With great pleasure, I now declare Open Day 2012 officially open
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