The Solomon Islands National University yesterday witnessed another milestone through the launch of its newly established Post-Graduate Certificate in Health Leadership and Management program.
This programme will be offered through the National Univerty's School of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences.
The program was established as a result of a need by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) to instill leadership and management skills to its mid-level managers to go in line with the Ministry’s implementation of the landmark “Role Delineation Policy” through which provinces and health zone will no longer just play health service delivery role, but also the management and leadership of health matters.
MHMS with the support of World Health Organization (WHO) initiated the establishment of the program which then, made possible with fund support from the Korean Government. WHO and MHMS also received support from DFAT’s continuous investment in the country’s health sector.
Dr. Sevil Huseynova of WHO stated during the launching that the roots of this program could be traced back to a series of discussion that took place at the National Health Conferences of 2016 where a number of complex and persistent management issues were identified that constrain health service delivery in the country.
WHO through a competitive bidding process selected Human Resources Development Alliance (HRDA) for the designing and delivery of the program in partnership with Solomon Islands National University.
Dean of Nursing School and Supervising Acting Vice-Chancellor Ms. Verzilyn Isom said today’s launching answered the questions “How can industries have input into the development and delivery of new programs? And how can SINU ensure that courses meet industry needs?
Professor Graham Roberts of HRDA, a key writer of the program stated that the program is designed according to the Solomon Islands context. “It is a big mistake for Universities to come in and teach western theories and go away thinking they’ve done a good job,” said the Professor.
Pro-Vice Chancellor Academic of SINU Dr. Jack Maebuta sincerely thanked WHO, Korean Gov’t, DFAT and MHMS for having the faith and trust in SINU to host the program. He also thanked Professor Graham and his team which consist of officials from HRDA, MHMS, SINU and Ministry of Public Service for designing the program.
The program enrols 16 MHMS mid-level managers for the first cohort and classes begin this month, September 2018.
Source: Press Release, Solomon Islands National University