The ''Pacific Strategic Framework (2013-2020)'', which had been about two years in the making, was launched at an event attended by representatives from the Pacific community and the Ministry of Education at Otago University yesterday.
Deputy vice-chancellor academic and international Prof Vernon Squire said one of the most important goals of the framework was raising the performance of Pacific students at the university.
''My passion is to have all our students performing equivalently regardless of their nationality and, at the moment, you will see that the Pacific students are a little bit behind.
''We need to find ways of making them achieve at the same level as other students,'' he said.
Other goals of the framework included encouraging Pacific research excellence, encouraging Pacific curriculums and contributing to the Pacific region. Prof Squire said it was about ''putting into action'' some of the things the university had wanted to do for some time. The university would measure its progress against ''key performance indicators'' to determine whether it was achieving its aims.
''The first thing that we have to do is collect some data.''
The framework built on the success the university had in raising the performance of Maori students.
Vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne said the launch was exciting for the university.
''We see ourselves as very big players in the Pacific region and we have very high aspirations for our Pacific students and our Pacific staff.''
