The University of the South Pacific has established a grant agreement with the Pacific Women Lead program of the Pacific Community to promote leadership among female staff in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
The initiative aims to identify and address the challenges faced by female staff in leadership roles in STEM across four Pacific Island universities.
Professor Pal Ahluwalia, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific, expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, emphasizing the university’s commitment to cultural competence and gender equality.
“Given that our institution has produced more female graduates consecutively—with an average of 60% of graduates over the past six years being women—we aim to see more women take on leadership roles in these areas. We also have initiatives like the VCP Strategic Fund for Female Academics at USP, which seeks to increase the number of women in academia across various disciplines,” Professor Ahluwalia stated.
“This field-specific information helps us better support our staff in their career progression within the institution. Advancing women at USP equates to advancing women throughout the region.”
The project is a collaboration involving USP, Fiji National University, National University of Samoa, Solomon Islands National University, Western Sydney University, and Science in Australia Gender Equity Ltd.
The project’s objective is to collect and analyze data to develop effective solutions and drive transformative change for women in STEM in the Pacific. Data will also be collected on USP students’ views of STEM leadership role models and will include baseline audits with recommendations for policy changes and training.
The project is funded by Pacific Women Lead at SPC and is supported by the Australian Government.