Vavaʻu Academy for Critical Inquiry and Research
Vava’u Academy for Critical Inquiry and Research [VACIAR] was established in Auckland, New Zealand in 2007 as a regional research and publication facility for Tongan scholarship. Its academic imprint has published seven titles on Tongan society and culture. It currently operates an informal centre in Auckland … and two in Tonga – at Nukuʻalofa on Tongatapu and Tefisi on Vavaʻu.
Since 2009, U.S. Peace Corps volunteers have staffed its Tefisi centre, remedially assisting primary and secondary school students. Since 2011, its monthly classical music programme, “Classical Cavalcade”, has been broadcast nationally in Tonga on Radio Tonga 1 from March through November.
Beginning February 2014, VACIAR intends to offer a selection of tertiary courses at its new headquarters in Makāve, Vavaʻu, and close its informal centres.