KUALA LUMPUR: University of the South Pacific (USP) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Spirit of Endeavour Sdn Bhd to focus on capacity building, enterprise skills development as well as research and knowledge sharing.
Both parties aim to enable USP students to benefit from the experience that they will gain out of Fiji government projects in which Endeavour is involved in such as the Fiji Ease of Doing Business project.
Endeavour currently operates in Malaysia, Singapore and also the Pacific Island nation of Fiji.
"The Fiji government welcomes such a public-private partnership initiative as this, which is promising the creation of an innovative partnership for capacity building and knowledge sharing which will benefit not only the student community of USP but also other stakeholders including various government agencies as well as the private sector," said Fiji deputy prime minister and minister for trade, cooperatives, SMEs and communications Manoa Kamikamica.
Both parties have also agreed to expand this collaboration to cover other related skill sets suited to the transformation process, as well as that which is covered by the framework of USP's faculties.
Under the programme, qualified USP undergraduates are given paid internship opportunities with the project management team.
This has given them invaluable learning opportunities drawn from directly working on assignments which contribute to the Ease of Doing Business Projects.
Most of the USP graduates who have served as interns have moved on to build successful careers in either public sector or private sector organisations.
Endeavour is a consulting firm which specialises in digital innovation and transformation.
It has established its reputation with successful digital government transformation projects in the Asean region, the Pacific as well as Africa.
In 2022, Endeavour was appointed by the Fiji government as the integrated project manager for the Fiji Ease of Doing Business Project.
A key outcome expected of this four-year national project, once ready, will be the creation of a single digital platform for the delivery of e-government services for business owners and investors in Fiji.