Within my 25 years history for working in the Pacific Islands, the "Internet Course Development by the School of Law of USP" is one of my most proudest projects. Before it was called the Vanuatu model, and still now they are taking the lead for the whole of USP.
I was asked by the current Head of the School of Law USP, what we have done for them. I just copied and pasted from SPF web site, as below.
We supported them from 2001-2003, and 2006-2008, a total of 6 years with 26,385,192 yen (about USD250,000)
FY2001 4,507,376yen
Pacific island nations are using the legal systems of their former suzerain powers in conjunction with traditional customs as they engage in nation building. Putting in place their own legal systems and educating the public about them are important to the peace and stability of these relatively new states.
Through this project the University of the South Pacific (USP), which has been offering distance education to Pacific islanders, aims to provide high quality educational materials and interactive classes for students in outlying areas who are enrolled in the School of Law. This year the USP School of Law (website: www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj) developed 16 new online subjects, adapting the materials used so far, and provided links to the website Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute, a collection of cases, and other databases. A project manager and two technicians were employed to develop Internet courses, and the website was progressively updated. In fiscal 2002, a system for online discussion is to be set up.
FY2002 4,895,510yen
Pacific island nations are using the legal systems of their former colonial powers in conjunction with traditional customs as they engage in nation building. Putting in place their own legal systems and educating the public about them are important to the peace and stability of these relatively new states. Through this project the University of the South Pacific (USP), which has been offering distance education to Pacific islanders, aims to provide high-quality educational materials and interactive classes for students in outlying areas who are enrolled in the School of Law.
This year, about 20 new online subjects were developed for the USP School of Law website (www. vanuatu.usp.ac.fj). Priority was also placed on website system development to enable professors and other teaching staff to freely organize course content with a little training. In addition, improvement of the system for online discussion groups actively encouraged participation by people in outlying areas. This project has been recognized as the “Vanuatu model” for USP as a whole and is playing a leading role in developing new distance education methods.
FY2003 4,532,031yen
The island nations of the Pacific are using the legal systems of their former colonial powers in conjunction with traditional customs as they engage in nation building. Putting in place their own legal systems and educating the public about them are important to the peace and stability of these relatively new states.
In this project the University of the South Pacific (USP), which has been offering distance education to Pacific islanders, aimed to provide high-quality educational materials and interactive classes for students in outlying areas who were enrolled in the School of Law. The School of Law developed a curriculum covering some 60 subjects for bachelor’s and master’s degrees and began offering it at the USP School of Law website, which was set up in 1998 at the USP Centre in Vanuatu (www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj). Priority was also placed on website system development to enable professors and other teaching staff to freely manage course content with a little training. Active participation of students was made possible by setting up online discussion groups, chat groups, news services, and bulletin boards, all of which were offered on the website together with tests students can take to grade themselves.
The development of these online teaching aids facilitated the introduction of existing courses on law from Australia and New Zealand and enabled university resources to be used more effectively. In a bid to attract students from other regions of the world, the staff of the School of Law held talks with universities and related organizations in Britain, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the United States, and Vietnam. This resulted in students elsewhere being given the opportunity to learn about law in the Pacific island region.
During the three years of its development, this online course of the USP School of Law gained recognition as the “Vanuatu model” of distance education and sparked other such efforts within the university. On the main USP campus in Fiji, online courses based on this model have already been developed and put into use for preschool education, psychology, and training in Pacific island languages. The online law course also enabled the USP Centre in Vanuatu, which has only a small staff and few financial resources, to develop continuous and reliable instruction. Evidence of this is provided by enrolment at the center, which swelled from about 10 students to more than 100 students over the three-year period.
In relation to this project, the Japan International Cooperation Agency has been putting effort into capacity building in distance education, with its focus on USP’s Fiji campus. The people involved in this work also give the Vanuatu model high marks, and they have plans to develop their own audiovisual teaching aids.
FY2006 2,527,725yen
An online course was developed at the School of Law of the University of the South Pacific (USP) under a project entitled “Internet Course Development by School of Law of USP,” that was supported by the Sasakawa Pacific Island Nations Fund in 2001–2003. As a result, the number of students taking the course increased many times over. This project aims to expand the educational opportunities for legal experts by establishing online courses in environmental law and commercial law at the same graduate school and by creating a regional legal database.
This year, the project developed syllabi for courses in Environmental Law and Policy, Comparative Environmental Law, Regional Environmental Law, and International Environmental Law. The Pacific Islands Treaty Series (www.paclii.org/pits/) was also developed, with entries of more than 450 laws and treaties. To develop joint classes between USP and universities in Japan and Asia, the program is exploring the possibility of using the environmental law course of the United Nations University as an online graduate course at the USP School of Law. Discussions are also moving forward with the City University of Hong Kong on the joint development of a course on pollution law.
FY2007 5,428,740yen
The project seeks to expand educational opportunities for legal experts by developing online courses in environmental and commercial law at the University of the South Pacific’s School of Law and by creating a regional legal database. Initial plans called for the simultaneous development of both courses, but given the urgency of measures to deal with global warming and tourism-related environmental pollution in the Pacific region, the courses on environmental law were developed first.
In fiscal 2006 development of course materials began in four subjects: environmental law and policy, comparative environmental law, regional environmental law, and international environmental law. In fiscal 2007 the materials were completed, and the courses were registered as requisites by the USP School of Law. Also, over 80 laws and treaties were added to the Pacific Islands Treaty Series database (www.paclii.org/pits/) created the previous year. The possibility of collaborating with United Nations University was also explored with the aim of developing courses offered jointly by the USP and universities in Japan and other Asian countries.
FY2008 4,493,810yen
This project is designed to enhance educational opportunities for legal experts by developing online courses on environmental law and commercial law at the postgraduate level at the University of the South Pacific (USP) and to expand the Pacific Islands Treaty Series database. It was initially planned to develop courses on both environmental and commercial law simultaneously, but since global warming and environmental pollution caused by tourism are more pressing issues in the Pacific region, the project started with the development of environment law courses in fiscal 2006 and 2007. Then, in fiscal 2008, the final year of the project, the commercial law program was created.
When developing the commercial law program, researchers from the Australian National University and the University of Sydney drew up educational materials for four courses: Foreign Trade and Investment Law, Pacific Commercial Law, E-Commerce Law, and Banking and Finance Law. The project has also continued to collect data on laws and treaties applicable to the Pacific region since the previous fiscal year. Thanks to these efforts, the Pacific Islands Treaty Series database (http://www.paclii.org/pits) of approximately five hundred varieties of laws and treaties has been completed and disclosed to the public.
In the environment law program, educational materials were drawn up for course in Environmental Law and Policy, Comparative Environmental Law, Regional Environmental Law, and International Environmental Law. With the abovementioned commercial law courses, online educational materials for a total of eight courses were completed. The environmental law courses have already been assigned as a prerequisite for the postgraduate (master’s degree) program. Three of these courses are provided by visiting lecturers to approximately 30 students each. In fiscal 2008, the project also held discussions with universities in Asia and Oceania aiming to realize joint lectures for the environmental law program, in collaboration with the United Nations University and the National University of Singapore. The plan was not fully realized during the project term, however, so the universities are currently preparing to start such courses in fiscal 2009 or later. The Pacific Islands Treaty Series database is expected to be used actively by legal experts both inside and outside the Pacific region and to serve as valuable resource material for USP. SPINF expects the online courses developed through this project to contribute to the enhancement of postgraduate-level legal education at USP, while playing a leading role in relevant fields in the Pacific region.
