Dr. Konai Thuman

One of the longest serving staff of the University of the South Pacific (USP) before she retired Konai Helu Thaman holds a Personal Chair (from USP) in Pacific Education and Culture, and was the UNESCO Chair in Teacher Education and Culture from 1998-2016.

She was born and raised in the Kingdom of Tonga where she received her primary and secondary education. She completed her secondary education at Epsom Girls Grammar School in Auckland before entering Auckland University where she completed her BA (Geography), and afterwards a Secondary Teaching Diploma before returning to teach at Tonga High School from 1969-71.
She later obtained her MA in International Education from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) and a PhD in Education from the University of the South Pacific (USP). Konai and her husband Randolph joined USP in 1974 and are now both retired.

Konai has researched and published widely in the areas of curriculum, teacher education, indigenous education, women and university management, and more recently Pacific research frameworks and education for sustainable development. She has held a number of senior management positions at the USP including Director of the Institute of Education (IOE), Head of the School of Humanities, and Pro Vice Chancellor.

Until her retirement in 2020 she was a member of several international committees including the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee on the Recommendation on the Status of Teachers (CEART); the Asia Pacific Centre for Educational Innovations in Development (APEID); the UNESCO Asia Pacific Scientific Committee on Research in Higher Education; and the UNESCO Global Monitoring Committee for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). In 2000 she and a small group of Pacific educators founded the Rethinking Pacific Education Initiative which has continued to be an important force in educational development in the Pacific Island region.

Konai is also a poet whose work is studied by school children throughout the Pacific and beyond. Some of her poems have been translated into several languages including Chinese, French, German & Tongan. Five Collections of her poetry have been published: You the Choice of My Parents (1974); Langakali (1981); Hingano (1987); Kakala (1993) and Songs of Love (1999). Konai and her husband live in Suva, Fiji. They have two adult children and three grandchildren.