---
title: "Science and technology in Pacific Island countries"
chunk: 3/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_Pacific_Island_countries"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:38:13.011932+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

==== Higher education ====
Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Samoa all consider education to be one of the key policy tools for driving science, technology and innovation, as well as modernization. Fiji, in particular, has made a supreme effort to re-visit existing policies, rules and regulations in this sector. The Fijian government allocates a larger portion of its national budget to education than any other Pacific Island country (4.2% of GDP in 2011), although this is down from 6% of GDP in 2000. The proportion of the education budget allocated to higher education (0.5% of GDP) amounts to 13% of the public education budget. Scholarship schemes like National Toppers, introduced in 2014, and the availability of student loans have made higher education attractive and rewarding in Fiji.
According to an internal investigation into the choice of disciplines in school-leaving examinations (year 13), Fijian students have shown a greater interest in science since 2011. A similar trend can be observed in enrolment figures at all three Fijian universities.
Many Pacific Island countries take Fiji as a benchmark for education. The country draws education leaders from other Pacific Island countries for training and, according to the Ministry of Education, teachers from Fiji are in great demand in these countries.
One important initiative has been the creation of the Higher Education Commission (FHEC) in 2010, the regulatory body in charge of tertiary education in Fiji. FHEC has embarked on registration and accreditation processes for tertiary-level education providers to improve the quality of higher education in Fiji. In 2014, FHEC allocated research grants to universities with a view to enhancing the research culture among faculty.

==== Research and development ====
Fiji is the only developing Pacific Island country with recent data for gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD). The national Bureau of Statistics cites a GERD/GDP ratio of 0.15% in 2012. Private-sector research and development (R&D) is negligible. Between 2007 and 2012, government investment in R&D tended to favour agriculture. Scientists publish much more in geosciences and medical sciences than in agricultural sciences, however.

===== Agriculture =====
Food security has been given high priority in the Fiji 2020 Agriculture Sector Policy, as part of a shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture and agro-processing. Strategies outlined in Fiji 2020 include:

modernizing agriculture in Fiji;
developing integrated systems for agriculture;
improving delivery of agricultural support systems;
enhancing innovative agricultural business models; and
strengthening the capacity for policy formulation.
Fiji has taken the initiative of shifting away from subsistence agriculture towards commercial agriculture and agro-processing of root crops, tropical fruits, vegetables, spices, horticulture and livestock. In 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture revived Fiji's Agricultural Journal in 2013, which had been dormant for 17 years.
In 2007, agriculture and primary production accounted for just under half of government expenditure on R&D, according to the Fijian National Bureau of Statistics. By 2012, this had risen to almost 60%. Scientists publish much more in the field of geosciences than in agriculture, though. Between 2008 and 2014, agriculture accounted for only 11 out of Fiji's 460 articles catalogued in Thomson Reuters' Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded), compared to 85 articles in geosciences.
The rise in government spending on agricultural research has come to the detriment of  research in education, which dropped to 35% of total research spending between 2007 and 2012. Government expenditure on health has remained fairly constant, at about 5% of the total for research, according to the Fijian National Bureau of Statistics.

===== Health =====
Over the six years to 2012, government expenditure on health remained fairly constant but low in Fiji, at about 5% of the total for research, according to the Fijian National Bureau of Statistics. This may explain why medical sciences accounted for only 72 out of Fiji's 460 articles catalogued in Thomson Reuters' Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded) between 2008 and 2014.
The Fijian Ministry of Health is seeking to develop endogenous research capacity through the Fiji Journal of Public Health, which it launched in 2012. A new set of guidelines are now in place to help build endogenous capacity in health research through training and access to new technology. The new policy guidelines require that all research projects initiated in Fiji with external bodies demonstrate how the project will contribute to local capacity-building in health research.

===== Fisheries =====
The desire to ensure that fisheries remain sustainable is fuelling the drive to use science and technology to make the transition to value-added production. The fisheries sector in Fiji is currently dominated by the catch of tuna for the Japanese market. The Fijian government plans to diversify this sector through aquaculture, inshore fisheries and offshore fish products such as sunfish and deep-water snapper. Accordingly, many incentives and concessions are being offered to encourage the private sector to invest in these areas.

===== ICT sector =====
Fiji has shown substantial growth in access to Internet and mobile phone services. This trend has been supported by its geographical location, service culture, pro-business policies, English-speaking population and well-connected e-society. Relative to many other South Pacific Islands, Fiji has a fairly reliable and efficient telecommunications system with access to the Southern Cross submarine cable linking New Zealand, Australia and North America. A recent move to establish the University of the South Pacific Stathan ICT Park, the Kalabo ICT economic zone and the ATH technology park in Fiji should boost the ICT support service sector in the Pacific region.

=== Papua New Guinea ===

==== Higher education ====
In its Higher Education Plan III 2014–2023, Papua New Guinea sets out a strategy for transforming tertiary education and R&D through the introduction of a quality assurance system and a programme to overcome its limited R&D capacity.