Wansolwara special edition hot off the press

The second edition of Wansolwara focuses on USP’s 50th Anniversary and the people-power behind its success. Picture: WANSOLWARA STAFF

By WANSOLWARA STAFF

The latest edition of Wansolwara has hit the news stands, featuring the high-level visit by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, an exclusive interview with the outgoing USP Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Rajesh Chandra, and the profile of incoming Vice-Chancellor and President designate, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, alumni and leading academics.

The special edition is the second publication produced by USP journalism students focusing on USP’s 50th Anniversary and the people power behind the institution’s remarkable progress over five decades. Some of the highlights of the 24-page publication include interviews with the President of Nauru Baron Waqa, who said technology had changed USP and made more information and reports available; Vanuatu Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu’s reflections on his early days as a student at USP; and shared memories of leading academics such as Professor Paresh Narayan and Professor Satendra Nandan.

First-year journalism student Rohit Kumar reads the latest edition of Wansolwara as final-year student Koroi Tadulala arranges the newspaper for distribution at USP’s Laucala campus. Picture: WANSOLWARA STAFF

“It was at USP that I had many opportunities of further higher education; above all, I became more deeply aware of the region that became part of the region in my mind — perhaps my most precious gift for no region in the world for me has the largeness and beauty of Australasia. This is really our part of the universe — its seas, skies, stars, islands, trees, birds, bees and peoples, migrants and indigenous. Citizens all. USP was the creative pearl in the ocean of infinite variety and radiance for so many of us,” Prof Nandan said.

“(USP) is a great university. Successive university VCs, particularly, Professor Chandra, deserve a lot of credit. It is a moment for us to reflect and celebrate the success of USP. The 50th anniversary is not only about celebrating but also realising the work that needs to be done to build on the work of the past 50 years,” Prof Narayan added.

USP Journalism Coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh said the students worked hard to produce the newspaper, which was part of their course assessment.

He said the students had done commendable work over the last two issues of the newspaper to conduct interviews and write the stories to make the public more aware about the staff and alumni of USP, and their contribution in the region.

“The paper is part of the capstone JN303 Journalism Production course designed to provide professional work experience and focus on entrepreneurship,” Dr Singh said.

“Students take up editorial and marketing roles with the paper, as well as full-time, six-week work attachments with local media companies.”

 This year the Wansolwara team raised over $12,000 advertising revenue from 10 different advertisers.

Dr Singh said the support of leading firms such as Telecom Fiji Ltd, Goodman Fielder, BSP, Vodafone, Westpac, and the Fiji Sun underscore confidence in Wansolwara as a viable media product.

“Wansolwara, publishing for 22 years, was published and circulated yesterday in partnership with Fiji’s national daily, the Fiji Sun, as an insert nation-wide. It is unique for student newspapers to get such widespread national distribution,” added Dr Singh.

Wansolwara supervising editor-in-chief Geraldine Panapasa said the publication spoke volumes about the potential of aspiring journalists from the region.

She said they were grateful to the University, the Faculty of Arts, Law & Education, School of Language, Arts & Media as well as their advertisers and supporters from the media fraternity for providing the platform for budding journalists to grow.

The special Wansolwara edition can be accessed via www.wansolwaranews.com or https://issuu.com/wansolwaranews1/docs/wansolwara-ecopy_final. E-copies of the publication will also be  circulated to USP’s network across its 12-member countries.

Second-year journalism student Eparama Warua reads through the special Wansolwara edition on USP’s 50th Anniversary. Picture: WANSOLWARA STAFF

Ready for distribution … the latest edition of Wansolwara on USP’s 50th Anniversary hot off the press. The student training newspaper is published as an insert in the Fiji Sun. Picture: WANSOLWARA STAFF