Policy Analysis and Crafting to Empower Authentic Indigenous Learning Experiences in the Pacific Higher Education Landscape

Abstract

This chapter examines the context of higher education in the Pacific. A brief explanation of the role of colonialism in the formation of institutions of higher education in the region is followed by discussions of policies and practices that empower local dissemination and production of knowledge by and amongst faculty, students, and the communities which they serve. The author concludes that a balance between advancing knowledge in a way that is respectful to academic traditions and cultural traditions in the Pacific can be achieved by harnessing the best values and qualities in common between those traditions.