Page 17 - IB January 2023

Helping improve the educational achievement of

Pacific students in accounting

As the head of department for accounting at Auckland
University of Technology (AUT), Associate Professor Anil
Narayan is proud of the achievements he has had in
his academic career so far, including many internal and
external awards recognising his outstanding contribution
to teaching and learning, research and leadership.
“I’m fortunate to have an academic career built on a
strong foundation of teaching, research and professional
accounting practice. I enjoy both teaching and research,
but the leadership role is even more interesting and
challenging.”
Born in Fiji, Anil migrated to New Zealand in the late
1980s and is on a mission to help improve the educational
achievement of Pacific students in accounting studies.
“Pacific people are underrepresented in the accounting
profession, and improving their academic success and
completion rates in tertiary accounting qualifications will
help address this persistent, yet surmountable, challenge.”

Supporting Pacific students
Over the past two decades, Anil has taught many
Pacific students in both undergraduate and postgraduate AUT Associate Professor, Anil Narayan.
programmes, and understands the difficulties Pacific
students encounter in the tertiary education environment. and engage in learning when the teacher is friendly,
Together with his colleague Irshad Ali, he has also approachable, culturally sensitive, and shows empathy
undertaken research to better understand the challenges and care for their learning needs.
Pacific accounting students face and how to help them These research results have been presented at different
succeed in pursuing accounting as a career. forums, and won the 2020 Faculty Research Impact Team
Their research findings suggest that Pacific students’ Award and the 2022 New Zealand Business Research
low self-belief in their ability to succeed, and challenges Translation Award.

Teaching success
Throughout his academic career, Anil has won
various teaching awards, including the 2018 AUT Vice-
I always try to inspire my students Chancellor’s Individual Teaching Excellence Award.
to learn and succeed, to be excited Recently he was also promoted to professor; a promotion
about accounting, and to realise that takes effect from January 2023.
“I’m enormously privileged to be in a profession that has
their true potential. the capacity to inspire and contribute to the knowledge
development of such a diverse range of learners. Some of
my high-achieving students have been recipients of the
top scholar awards, and many have developed successful
to prioritise their learning over their other commitments careers in accounting and professional practice.”
are major factors contributing to poor academic Anil uses his research to inform his teaching, and
achievement. Support from parents, church leaders and believes that teachers play a crucial role in nurturing the
teachers has a positive impact on these students, and self-belief and confidence in Pacific students.
teachers in particular play an invaluable role in helping “Teachers need to build trusting relationships and
Pacific students achieve academically and professionally. provide a supportive learning environment that is
Based on the research, Anil has found that Pacific culturally inclusive and aligns with core Pacific values of
students generally feel comfortable attending classes respect, humour, affection and relationships.”

Islands Business, January 2023 17