Quality assurance and education leaders from 11 Pacific Island countries, along with Australia and New Zealand, convened for the Pacific Qualifications Advisory Board (PQAB) meeting in Wellington to discuss the progress in strengthening the Pacific Qualifications Framework (PQF). The Pacific Community (SPC) with support from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) facilitated the PQAB meeting which was held in late October.
The PQF is a regional qualifications framework that aims to build trust in qualifications from the Pacific region, create transparency around quality assurance in Pacific national and regional education systems, and support the recognition of Pacific qualifications as pathways to skilled employment and further education within and outside of the Pacific region.
The PQAB brings together leaders of Pacific, New Zealand and Australian national quality assurance agencies and ministries of education to ensure the PQF and the regional connections it could support are responsive to the needs of Pacific countries. The Board’s role includes giving oversight to work that aims to ‘reference’ and ‘benchmark’ national qualifications frameworks and systems to the PQF – a process that fosters trusted connections between national systems that could support improved recognition of Pacific qualifications. This last aspect was the other key focus for the October 2024 meeting.
PQAB’s role is important to support major work underway to build connections between the PQF and the qualifications systems of 9 Pacific Island countries and New Zealand, supported by the Pacific Qualifications Recognition Project (PQRP). The intention of the PQRP is to strengthen the role of the PQF in enabling improved recognition of Pacific qualifications.

Pauline Moa, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Tonga National Qualifications and Accreditation Board and the PQAB Chair for 2024, highlighted that “The meeting discussed the roles of the Pacific Qualifications Advisory Board in relation to the referencing and benchmarking project that is undergoing between the national qualification frameworks of the countries, as well as the Pacific Qualifications Framework.” There were also proposed changes to some of the criterion that we were given time to work on and provide our comments for the next meeting.”
The step-by-step construction of the criterion work is led by the Pacific Qualifications Recognition Project (PQRP), a five-year project that is jointly implemented by SPC and the NZQA.
The PQRP work has focused on exploring regional interests and priorities for strengthening the PQF and strengthening the connections and trust between national qualifications systems. This has included the PQAB agreeing on the process and steps for ‘referencing’ and ‘benchmarking’, and reviewing progress in this work.
The journey of strengthening the PQF has led to greater collaboration among participating countries and has boosted peer to peer learning opportunities, especially for those members who do not have a national qualifications authority.
Tematang Iaoniman, Deputy Secretary of Education in Kiribati, explained that “The value of building and sustaining trusted relationships resonates deeply with me, as Kiribati collaborates with fellow Pacific Island countries on the implementation of the PQF. This is especially important now, as Kiribati has recently passed its first ever Kiribati Qualifications Act, which was ascended by the President earlier this year, and our next critical step is bringing this act to life.” “One of our key initiatives to move forward, particularly in establishing the Kiribati Qualifications Authority (KQA), is to collaborate with EQAP for technical guidance and partner with our brother and sister Pacific Island countries that already have established their authorities,” she added.
SPC’s Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP) Deputy Director, Seci Waqabaca remarked at the end of the PQAB meeting that through this work we are ‘…sowing the seeds of progress but the measure of our success will be in how we nurture what we have begun, with care, attention, and finding ways of developing flexible and sustainable solutions’.
The outcomes of the PQAB meeting will be tabled for discussion and endorsement at the upcoming Pacific Board for Education Quality (PBEQ) meeting in July 2025.
Prior to the advisory board meeting, representatives from 9 Pacific Island countries, SPC and NZQA, participated in the project’s Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting to progress the technical referencing and benchmarking work. This meeting focused on establishing connections between national qualifications systems and frameworks to the PQF.
Goldie Lusi, from the Solomon Islands Tertiary Education and Skills Authority, highlighted “In this meeting we have seen the big picture, especially in the area of referencing and benchmarking. We also reviewed the country progress reports that we had prepared, especially focussing on Criterion 1 and 3. During this meeting we have identified some gaps and areas of improvement which I will be working on together with my colleagues after returning to my country. At the same time, we had started populating information about Criterion 4”.
The outcomes of the PQAB meeting will be tabled for discussion and endorsement at the upcoming Pacific Board for Education Quality (PBEQ) meeting scheduled for July 2025.
About Pacific Qualifications Recognition Project
Funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), the Pacific Qualifications Recognition project aims to strengthen the Pacific and national qualifications frameworks and systems that will promote the recognition of qualifications, enabling the movement of learners and skilled workers across borders. The five-year project is jointly implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC) in partnership with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).
Contact
Tera Narayan, Communications Assistant, Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP), Pacific Community (SPC) | [email protected]