A Digital Skills Hub will be established in Fiji through a partnership between the University of South Pacific, Cisco, and Telecom Fiji.

The Hub will help Fiji solve skills shortages and bridge the digital divide in distant, underserved areas in the South Pacific region.

The three organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding today, setting the guidelines for this new venture.

University of the South Pacific Vice Chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia says the new Hub is set to open in the first half of 2024 and will feature Cisco technology, including a cybersecurity lab, design-thinking workshop, collaboration workspaces, and other digitally enabled platforms.

“So the MOU is yet another step of achieving our goal as the leading player, actor in the region. We believe we’re uniquely positioned to host the Digital Skills Hub and for the last five decades we’ve been deploying ICT resources intelligently for the benefits of our students and staff across the Pacific.”

Fiji’s Minister for Communication, Manoa Kamikamica, says this critical partnership will sustainably drive many digital transformation initiatives that are already in the pipeline.

“This collaboration is not just the convergence of institution, it signifies a shared commitment to tackling real world challenges through driving training, innovation and of course digitization.”

The Hub will also provide digital skills training through the Cisco Networking Academy, one of the world’s largest and longest-running skills-to-jobs programs offering industry-recognized training and credentials and inclusive workforce development.

The Hub is funded by Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) Programme, a strategic partnership with governments, industry, and academia to connect the unconnected, grow GDP, modernise digital infrastructure, and build a digitally empowered workforce.

Cisco is a worldwide technology leader with a vision to power an inclusive future for all nations.