The piloting of the National Qualifications programme by two institutions in Fiji created milestone for the Fiji Higher Education Commission [FHEC].
Monfort Boys Town, Veisari and Vivekananda Technical Centre in Nadi adopted and piloted five programmes that are developed out of the National Qualifications Framework in 2013. These institutions and a few others will be offering National Qualifications in 2014.
FHEC chairman, Dr Richard Wah said national qualifications were developed because there is often a mismatch between the training provided by the institutions and the current needs of the industries.
“At present, twenty one national qualifications had already been developed and available on the Fiji Qualifications Framework while three qualifications are to be registered to the framework this year,“ Dr Wah added.
The Fiji Qualifications Council that operates under the FHEC has been working hard over the past three years in administering the framework,” Dr Wah stated.
Dr Wah explained that the national qualifications developed are industry focused and were bench marked against regional and international standards.
“Through National Qualifications and Assessment we would also be able to assist our people without formal qualifications yet with heaps of experience and skills to attain a formal qualification.”
‘It is a very expensive exercise to develop a national qualification but the FHEC has been working with industry and financial assistance from government to develop TVET training courses that are well balanced in terms of proportion of theory with practice and competency based assessment is detailed to ensure that when the students complete the training they are competent to join the workforce” the FHEC Chair continued.
Dr Wah concluded that these National Qualifications need to be taught by persons who are both adequately qualified and well experienced. For example, the Vivekananda Technical Centre in Nadi will this year have a person who has been more than 10 years in the automotive industry and other who have years of experience in the culinary area within the hotel industry.
The Fiji Higher Education Commission is encouraging higher education providers to adopt and align themselves to the National Qualifications and recommending that students enroll for these courses which have been sanctioned by the Commission and for which the quality is assured.
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