| General | A word from the founder | A word from the dean |

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ʻATENISI INSTITUTE

An institute for critical education in the South Pacific

P.O.Box 90, Nukuʻalofa
Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific
Telephone: 24819 or 25034
Facsimile: (+676) 24819

all electronic mail to director and administration:

all electronic mail concerning university students' registration, grades and so on:

all electronic mail to the AFPA:

all electronic mail to particular staff and students: (please enquire, if needed, at the office to the right name of a particular person)

The "island", the centre of social contacts at the campus

THE INSTITUTE (general)

The Institute comprises the University, Performing Arts Foundation, High school and Service divisions. The institute's name, ʻAtenisi, is Tongan for the Greek capital, Athens. It was so named by its founder and still current director, professor ʻI. Futa Helu, because its philosophy of education passionately embraces both the scientific and democratic ideals advanced by the ancient Greeks.

ʻAtenisi's educational perspective places criticism at the very heart of education. This critical component is realised by means of a core curriculum, composed of the classical languages and such traditional subjects as philosophy, logic, art and literature. Thus ʻAtenisi upholds both intellectual independence and social democracy. In that respect, it is unique compared to most, if not all, educational institutions in Tonga and the region, where the emphasis is strictly utilitarian in character. This does not mean that ʻAtenisi denies utility -- it simply holds that knowledge can effectively be put to better use if theory precedes practice and not vice versa.

ʻAtenisi is independent of both church or state, and is therefore self-supporting, deriving its subsistence mainly from tuition fees, the Recycling Centre, fundraising activities, and modest donations from alumni associations in Tonga and overseas. This novel autonomy has encountered considerable antagonism from Tongan ruling circles since its adoption some 35 years ago. Consequently, the Institute has suffered in terms of attracting resources for its unique development. Yet, its very independence has enabled ʻAtenisi to excel in the fields of education, art and literature, and policy generation.

With its three educational divisions (University, Foundation for Performing Arts and High School), the Institute counts a total student population of about 150 (2008). We are in the process of a vigorous recruitment campaign, and so expect our student population to increase dramatically. Typically the University and Performing Arts divisions have recruited students from the High School division, as well as students from other secondary schools.

ʻAtenisi has often been portrayed in the media as a people's university... and with justification. While its classical and theoretical curriculum may from a regional perspective seem elitist in character, the Institute has, in fact, afforded the Tongan masses an opportunity to aspire for excellence. Many of our students are from poor, isolated (and often desolate) communities; ʻAtenisi serves as their link to the treasures of academia.

A word from the founder

professor emeritus ʻI.F. Helu
Futa Helu

I gave the name ʻAtenisi (Tonganisation of Athens) to this institution to record the fact that we owe science and philosophy - and democracy as well - to the ancient Greeks. I was, however, fully aware of certain shortcomings in the work of the Greeks. But without that brilliant start, the greatest breakthrough in the intellectual-spiritual history of mankind, we could not have developed to the stage we now find ourselves in. One of the greatest gifts that came via this breakthrough is the formalisation of the entailment relation between situations. This became the foundation of the critical-analytical enterprise which the Greeks founded giving rise to the special sciences and the different disciplines. And incredibly enough the same tools have also provided us with the means for changing the 'rules of the game' as we have traditionally understood them as they derived from the ancient Greeks. One such rule of the game is the disinterested, value-free principle of scientific inquiry. This very principle is being questioned now under the influence of certain key advances in nuclear physics and especially molecular biology -- artificial insemination, genetic diagnostics and therapy, the manufacture of chromosomes, or closing via transplants of the egg nucleus, etc, etc. These have suggested that from now on ethical questions must be part and parcel of the scientific enterprise.
Whether this inference is valid or not it demonstrates the vitality and power of the Greek legacy. It shows also that the ills of progress, whether originating in science or somewhere else can only be cured by science itself. ʻAtenisi Institute understands this statement and is committed to its analysis. ʻAtenisi is a small and poor school in Tonga, an island in the South Pacific. It respects the classical achievements of the past and is devoted to the criticism, analysis and development of the cultural institutions we have inherited through those achievements.

ʻOfa atu

A word from the dean

Michael G. Horowitz, Ph.D.
Futa Helu
Gone are the days when the scions of Tonga’s modest plantations would come to study ancient Greek and Latin here … not, of course, to angle for a promotion at, say, the Shell Oil terminal but to display classical knowledge in their home villages at weekend faikava (traditional kava circles). Today, Tongatapu hosts an urban middle class that typically views education as a vehicle to career advancement.
Consequently, university enrollment has declined … but there remains here a dedicated cadre who, if not quite keen on mastering Latin, nevertheless sees value in ancient Greek philosophy, African history, astronomy, and music theory, to name a few favourites. These scholars are among Tonga’s most talented and ʻAtenisi, in its current incarnation, is training this elite for graduate study in Fiji, New Zealand, or Australia … to be followed, hopefully, by the assumption of influential positions in an increasingly progressive kingdom.
A longstanding feature of instruction here has always been the university’s international faculty; during the late 1990s, for example, nearly half the faculty of 18 were foreign. Within a tightly-knit island culture, this sort of hospitality bespeaks a special tolerance. Now in the late naughts, ‘Atenisi continues this tradition: among its faculty of eight are an American sociologist, Australian legalist, and naturalised Dutch physicist.
Thus, over 30 years after ‘Atenisi first welcomed undergraduates, it continues to fulfill a vital niche within Tongan tertiary education. As the university’s third dean, it is a pleasure to invite the online community to review our modest catalog for 2008 … and the inspiring biography of our founder and professor emeritus, Dr. ʻIlaisa Futa Helu, at Wikipedia.

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