Pacific students gathered recently to celebrate a record number of Pacific scholarships offered by the University of Otago.
The number of Pacific students offered scholarships to attend Otago has increased four-fold during the past five years. Almost 300 of this year’s recipients were recognised at a celebratory dinner recently.
It was the first time the event has been run since 2019 when the Pacific Islands Centre was under the leadership of the now Head of Pacific Engagement le Afioga ia Tofilau Nina Kirifi Alai.
Pacific Islands Centre Manager Tagiilima Feleti addressed the students at the dinner.
“You’re here because it’s an opportunity for us to celebrate the effort, the commitment, the investment, and not just from yourselves but from your families and your communities, to get you here to the University of Otago.”
In 2017, 73 Pacific students were offered University of Otago scholarships, which climbed to 140 in 2019 and to more than 300 this year.
Feleti says he and members of the Centre are excited to be able to gather again, post-pandemic, to celebrate the achievements of more than double the number of students that were celebrated last time.
Ecology and geography tauira Javara Clark was one of three students to receive the New Frontiers of Excellence scholarship this year.
Javara came to Otago wanting to make a difference. He felt his degree needed to “connect to our land to provide a better future for us all” and saw it as a way to bring about change.
He applied for Otago at the end of 2023 while he was completing Year 12 at Otago Boys High School after realising he had obtained the necessary credits, and said receiving his scholarship gave him reassurance he was ready to attend university.
Learning he was the recipient of the New Frontiers of Excellence scholarship was welcome news to Javara, who commutes to campus from Taieri Mouth each day to get to class and is determined to fund his studies and leave university debt-free.
Javara has his sights set on a Master of Planning qualification, which will enable him to take up vocational positions overseas such as in the Solomon Islands and Kuwait, where “there have been many attempts at helping implement sustainable environmental practices and programmes”, he says.
For now, Javara is going to focus on enjoying his student years, powerlifting and his “cheap tickets to the zoo”, and later hopes to support the Pacific Islands Centre with their geography tutorials that he has benefitted from in his first year.
Fijian tauira Rumaysah Farun was one of nine to receive the Leaders of Tomorrow scholarship to pursue a health professional course at the University.
Rumaysah was Deputy Head Girl at Tawa College in Wellington before coming to Otago. She grew up wanting to be someone “that people could come to when they needed something”.
Since moving south, Rumaysah is happy to have been able to connect with like-minded people who share those values.
“Talking to everyone helped me gain a better perspective on my goals for the future; ultimately helping me realise that as the young Muslim Fijian woman I’ve grown up to be, dentistry would be the best fit for me,” she says.
Rumaysah hopes to be able to improve the accessibility of healthcare for Pacific communities and also wants to inspire other Pacific people to pursue their passions.
“We all want to see ourselves in people we look up to, in the hopes that we can fill their shoes someday. The more of us there are in healthcare professional positions, the more inspired and encouraged future Pasifika generations will be to give back to our community in ways beyond what we can imagine.
“InshAllah, the mahi we put in today will clear the path for those who come after us.”
– Kōrero by Communications Advisor (Pacific) Keilah Fox
Learn more about the University of Otago internally funded Pacific scholarships here.